


There Had Absolutely Been Another Option

by Bramblepelt



Series: There's No Easy Way Out [2]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Alternate Universe of an Alternate Universe, Childhood Friends to Lovers but like way later when they are grown, Found Family, Future Promptis, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, It's a lifelong slow burn and I am so sorry, That nobody asked for but here it is anyway, dad cor
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-14
Updated: 2021-02-23
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:27:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 95,217
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28059183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bramblepelt/pseuds/Bramblepelt
Summary: Cor came back from Niflheim with one baby, an asshole little kid, and a headache. And things just got worse from there.
Series: There's No Easy Way Out [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2031247
Comments: 84
Kudos: 108





	1. Prompto is 1 year old, and Cor has to make a decision

**Author's Note:**

> If you came here after reading 'I'm Not Sure Who I Am', then welcome! You already know what's up with this! Carry on!
> 
> If not I highly recommend reading that first as this is, as silly as it is, an AU of that fic that I wrote to make myself feel better. I started writing it between chapters of that one with the thought "What if everyone involved here actually got out alive with a happy ending?" and thus this series was born. It's incredibly self-indulgent. But! If you're starved for some Dad!Cor content and don't mind a second kid being involved then enjoy!

“No indication of any device implantation or chemical enhancement. The boy is for all intents and purposes, just an infant. Approximately one year of age. Underweight, no record of appropriate postnatal care. Bilirubin levels raised. Does not meet benchmarks: cannot sit up on own, cannot crawl, does not grasp items, does not babble. Does not cry when hungry, cold, or tired. In fact simply does not cry. Is otherwise healthy and with appropriate care expected to thrive.”

Cor Leonis continued staring into the distance. He was tired. So tired. After his long assignment, after the long journey home, after the long hours explaining everything to everyone above him in the chain of command, over and over again, and now a debrief from medical experts after days of tests and observations, Cor was more tired then he'd ever felt in his 26 years of life.

“The girl is six years of age. No indication of device implantation or chemical enhancement. Underweight and malnourished. Specifically deficient in Vitamin D, Vitamin B, iron, and magnesium. Suffers from anemia. Social work assessment found evidence of post traumatic stress disorder, intermittent anger disorder, depression, and insomnia. Shows common signs of neglect and abuse including aggression, hostility, low self esteem, refusal to eat, refusal to follow simple instructions, and disregard for personal safety. Demonstrates above average intelligence for age cohort, despite insistence of no previous schooling or formal education. With appropriate physical and mental healthcare may thrive.”

Cor simply nodded along, there was nothing the doctors were saying that he didn’t already know. The baby had spent its entire first year of life, an incredibly important foundational year, floating in a tube of whatever the fuck, completely cut off from any form of affection or stimulation. The girl had been left to her own devices, wandering around a dangerous facility at her own whims with barely any supervision. Nobody gave a shit about her. Worse, she had an inflated ego from being told she was smarter than everyone else and had acted the part. 

Cor had handed over two damaged, broken, abused children to his higher ups with no idea what would happen next.

“So, in essence, we have no strategic use for either of these subjects?” That was the voice of one of the military men. Cor didn’t look up to see which. Some old guy who’d sat comfortably in his rank for a long time. Completely capable of talking about two little lives like they were inanimate objects only good for his own devices. “No proof of genetic manipulation, or enhancements, or weaponization. Just two neglected children from Niflheim.”

Just. They were just neglected and abused and fucked up. No big deal. Nothing to see here. Just two completely damaged innocent kids. How useless.

“In that case,” came a female voice. One of the politicians. “What should be done with them? Certainly we will not be sending them back.”

“Considering one of them is, let’s face it, the kidnapped child of a prominent Imperial figure it would seem we should make this decision with utmost care.” A male politician, currently side eyeing him.

A second doctor gave his prognosis. “Truth be told, while the infant shows no signs of purposeful manipulation we cannot be too sure. I believe it would be appropriate to have him come of age under the close supervision of our own agents. See how he adjusts to normal life, observe him, and if necessary control and...contain him should the unfortunate need arise.” 

Not for the first time this day, Cor felt like he was going to be sick.

“As for the girl, well, she’s an unfortunate case. She is simply too self-aware and uncooperative to hand back to the Imperials. My professional opinion is that a long term health center would do her well. Someplace that specializes in disturbed children. In the meantime we could coordinate the legality of guardianship and set her up for a comfortable, albeit heavily surveilled, adult life.”

So that was it. The fates of these two kids, pulled out of hell itself, was decided between a bunch of old assholes who had barely spoken a word to either of them. Institutionalized, constant surveillance, a lifelong observational study, whatever was most convenient for these people. Whatever helped them sweep the problem under the rug and move onto more important issues. Like tax referendums. 

That’s what Cor risked his life and theirs for.

“We will require some time to iron out the details.” Another politician.

“In the meantime I will have our team continue monitoring their physical states.” The first doctor. “Any changes or updates will be noted in their charts.”

“I’m glad we could find a proper solution to this...unexpected little inconvenience.” Yet another politician. 

Little inconvenience. Incredible. Cor stood from the table and left the briefing room, already sure no one wanted his further input anyway. He'd already made his stance quite clear and everyone treated him like a snapped shell shocked infantryman for it. Like he was insane for suggesting two kids were just two kids. 

They didn’t spend the time with those kids like he’d had. They didn’t win that little girl’s trust, hadn’t seen her cry. They didn’t bargain with a stranger at a train station to get some damn milk. They didn’t fret about how cold it was, how long they’d been awake, what lurked in every corner and shadow around them. They hadn’t seen the shit he’d seen.

He needed to see her. Maybe apologize before the people much more experienced and empowered than he was decided her fate.

Her room was 2-164. It was in the pediatric intensive care unit, but she had been placed in the unique pathogens room, just to keep any prying eyes far away. That biohazard symbol meant nothing to Cor as he helped himself into the room.

She was sitting up, staring at a television, looking like she hadn’t slept in a week. The channel was on some kind of home shopping network. They were selling a gadget that promised to clean your car in half the time, and keep it clean for twice as long. There was no way a six year old was enjoying this.

“Hey.” He said.

“Hey.” She replied, not looking away from the television.

Cor pulled a chair from the corner of the room and set it at the bedside, taking a seat.

“They’re just about done poking and prodding at you.” Start with the good news.

“Woohoo.” She said.

“They’re making decisions about where to put you now.” He continued.

She didn’t say anything.

“Your uh, your brother’s gonna be fine, okay? He’s gonna get adopted and have a family and all the normal stuff. Just like you wanted. Just like I said he would. He’ll be safe.” Cor reassured her.

“But not me.” She continued to stare. Cor wasn’t sure if she’d blinked since he came in.

“No.” Why bother lying? “They said you need help. They want to...send you some place with professionals who can help you-”

“I’m going to a nuthouse.” She said.

“That’s...an outdated term. It’s a place where kids who have gone through what you’ve gone through get help. And heal, and go on to live normal lives.” They had to. That had to be the case. That had to be what was ahead of her.

“And I’ll never see him again, will I?” She finally turned to look at him.

Cor frowned. What was there to say? What could he possibly say to make this better? Oops, sorry kid, you’re too fucked up to be adopted but the baby has a chance. He gets to have nice parents in a nice home, but you’re too vulgar and too angry to join. Thems the breaks.

“Probably.” Was all he could say.

Not for the first time since they’d met, Delphia’s eyes started tearing up. Cor was sure this was only possible because the IV sticking from her arm had helped rehydrate her.

“You’re smart. Look, if you can just temper the anger for a little while, just reel it back for now, maybe...maybe I can convince them to set you up somewhere else. You know? Maybe a school. You should be in school. Maybe a school where you can get all the books and homework and assignments your heart desires, and you can, I don’t know...you can show all the other kids how much smarter you are and be the best at...whatever it is you do. That’d be better, right?” Cor asked.

She shrugged her shoulders. “I guess.”

This was best. This was the best option for her.

“Look, it’s really late, you shouldn’t be watching this junk. You should be asleep.” Cor grabbed the remote from the bedside table and flipped the tv off. She sighed but fell back against the pillow anyway. He pulled the sheet and flimsy blanket up over her and turned the convenience lamp off. “Don’t stress about the future. Just worry about yourself, and getting better, right now.”

“Yeah, whatever. Bye.” Del closed her eyes and pulled the sheet all the way over her face.

“Alright. Bye.” Cor showed himself out. He leaned against the wall by the door, ignoring the stares from staff who didn’t know the situation and wondered where his PPE was. He really, truly wished he hadn’t picked this year to quit smoking.

Up two more floors was the neonatal intensive care unit. Normally, an infant of this age could be placed in the PICU. But he was so small, the only equipment that fit him was in the NICU. Room 4-924 b. In a plastic bed, hooked up to a dozen tubes and wires, and surrounded by buzzing machinery, was the little infant. A small bundle of fuzzy blonde hair, pale skin, and red veins. A blue light shone above him. The purpose had been explained earlier but everything had happened so quickly, Cor couldn’t remember.

He remembered the bandages patched over the eyes were to protect them from the light.

The baby somehow looked more like a depersonalized experiment now than he had the first moment Cor had seen him. He knew it was all to help. He knew it was for his best interest. It didn’t make it any better to look at. 

“You’re gonna be ok. Alright? We’re gonna get you some parents. You’re gonna have a home. You’ll go to school. It’ll be alright. It’ll be better than...that. You’ll be held and loved and the whole package. Ok?” 

It’s the best we can do. It’s the best he could do. 

The baby, in turn, stirred a bit before reaching an arm out into the unseeable distance. Most likely a reflex. Cor moved to take the hand, placing a finger in his palm, just a small signal that said ‘you’re not alone’. The boy in turn made a small first, grasping it tightly. 

“Shit.”

\---

“We’ve selected the Argentums for the case.” 

Cor snapped back to attention. “What?”

The man cleared his throat. That same whoever above him in rank asshole as before. “We’ve decided they would be ideal candidates to take the infant. They fit the profile of a young couple seeking to adopt. The agents will maintain intelligence gathering duties, switching off for cases that require travel.”

“They’re 21 years old.” Cor snapped. They’re both younger than him, and these guys think they can handle raising this baby?

“Couples raise children at even younger ages. I don’t see their age as a barrier.” The man continued.

“They’ve never raised a kid before, their marriage isn’t real, do they even like each other?” This was not the life Cor had in mind for the boy.

“Leonis, none of our agents who have children would be idiotic enough to bring that into their home. And let me assure you, one does not need to love his spouse to raise a well rounded child.” He smirked.

Of course. Of course you’d make an ‘I hate my wife joke’ right now. This was going all wrong. Those two were great agents, they were fantastic at playing the part of tourist couple or scared young couple or overeager lovebirds accidentally falling into places they shouldn’t be. That was what they excelled at. And now they were expected to drop it all and raise a baby. 

“Once his condition is stabilized, he’ll be placed in an orphanage for a month while the Argentums are familiarized with their new home and roles. That will give us a legitimate paper trail. They will be expected to bring him back for monthly checkups and check ins for the first year, at minimum. To be expanded if necessary.”

“And as for the girl.” This was a doctor. Different from the earlier doctors. “Her emotional state has improved in the past three days. We believe the initial shock of her situation exacerbated the symptoms. The recommendation now is enrollment in a boarding school, at her own request, while closely followed by a caseworker. Should her mental state slip back she can receive the necessary care.”

The poor girl managed to fake being mentally healthy long enough to be placed under a microscope. Fantastic.

“Well, I do believe this solves our little tykes problem.” A politician joked. They laughed. These assholes laughed. “As for the facility itself, we’ll be reporting that to the council during the next session.” Cor excused himself before the meeting officially adjourned, and went to the only place he knew to go.

\---

“It’s bullshit, Clarus. They don’t give a single shit about these kids.” Cor felt more than comfortable speaking his mind in the confined office of the Shield of the King. “They put in the bare minimum thought and now they’re being set up as little experiments to observe and prod along. They should have a real family. Real fucking school, you know? Not this sham. And the Argentums? Oh I’m sure they’ll be so happy to hear the plans that were just decided for them about their entire lives. It’s like they’re playing with cards and not people. Gods I need a smoke.”

Clarus simply frowned from behind his desk. “I thought you quit.”

“Yeah well, desperate times and all that.” Cor ran a hand through his hair. He hadn’t gotten more than a couple hours’ rest here and there in weeks. The agitation, exhaustion, and stress was starting to overpower his will and sense. 

“One of my men smokes.” Clarus motioned his eyes to the left, signaling where the man could be found down the hall. “If it’s really that terrible, you could probably bum one off him. But I’m guessing what’s really needed here is a good night’s sleep or two.”

Cor crumpled into the seat opposite of his superior. “You have a kid, Clarus. You get this, right? You get how fucked up this is?”

Clarus took a deep breath. “I believe, Cor, my situation does not quite compare.”

Right, Cor thought. Of course. Your kid had the luck of the draw to be born into a family that expected and wanted him. 

“I’ve read the report, the case notes from doctors and social workers, the recommendations and such. This really does seem like the best option available to them. Unless you can think of something better, I certainly can’t think of another way that satisfies every party’s conditions.” Clarus tapped on a stack of paper, the evidence in question. “Again, unless you can think of something better.”

Something better than this would be a cigarette. Something to get his mind back into the real world. Clarus was right, what other option was there? If he could force his legs to stand up, walk down the hall, and bum that sweet sweet nicotine, just one, maybe it’d help calm his frayed nerves enough to think clearly. He pinched the bridge of his nose. Just stand up and go get it, and everything will be alright. There really wasn’t another option.

There was absolutely another option.

He didn’t need a cigarette.

He needed to fix this himself. 

“Actually, I think I do have a better idea.” Cor said slowly, trying to convince himself he wasn’t about to make the biggest mistake of his life.

“Do you? I’d love to hear it.”

Cor took a deep breath, chasing thoughts of addiction and relief far away. Fix the problem you created. Take responsibility for your actions. Make this right, let the chips fall where they may. 

Cor looked Clarus in the eyes, and said three words that would upend his life as he knew it forever.

“I’ll take them.”

\---

“This is insane, we have a perfectly good plan laid out, the best possible options for each of them, and you want to completely scrap that on the whims of an overworked and irresponsible boy?” That man again. General whoever.

Another five hours gone without rest, waiting for his friend to speak on his behalf. And now, sitting with Clarus in this old man’s office. Full of tacky nonsense all about how great he was. Emphasis on was.

“Last I checked 26 was more than a legal adult.” Clarus supplied, helping himself to the unknown brown liquor sitting on the man’s desk. “And that it was rude to speak about people like they aren’t there.”

“You have no idea what you’re getting yourself into! You have no idea how to raise a puppy, much less two children.” General Blanca, that was his name. Never liked him much.

“And yet I got them from Niflheim to the Citadel alive and in better shape than I found them.” Cor could feel his fingers digging into the arms of the chair. “Your plan treats them like a problem. You think that girl is a pain in the ass now? Wait until you tell her she’s never seeing that baby again. This isn’t going to turn out how you want it.”

“Funny, Leonis, I was about to say the same thing to you.”

“Gentlemen.” The Shield, ever bemused at the audacity of his young friend, nonetheless commanded a silence from them both. “These are two young lives we are speaking of. And not only that, but two kidnapped children from enemy territory. Keeping them under the safe watch of our own is the first priority, and second to that is ensuring they have the best chance at a fulfilling life. Which is why, after careful consideration, his Majesty is granting Leonis custody of these children for three months.”

“Just three-?” Cor started to rise from his chair.

“It’s a trial, Cor.” Clarus couldn’t help a tiny smirk. “You understand that concept. Three months. Let the two adjust to their new circumstances. Let you adjust to the realities of childcare. By then you should have a pretty good idea of where you stand. If you’ve changed your mind or cannot adapt to this assignment, the original plan can still be put into motion.” Clarus nodded to the General. 

“And otherwise?” Cor asked, somehow feeling worse than he had when he stepped in.

“I’ll tell the Department of Child Services to get the adoption papers drawn up.”

“This is outrageous, delaying the inevitable so you can smooth out your guilt.” General Asshole pointed a finger right in his face. Cor wanted to take that finger and break it. And the wrist too, for good measure. 

“Personal opinions aside, this is the ruling of his Majesty, and the terms that will be followed.” Clarus stood his ground, downing the rest of his glass of the General’s reserve.

The General, knowing when he was beat, silently shook his head and waved them out. Cor didn’t need to be told twice.

Outside, in the fresh air, the sun was setting. The passage of time was beginning to elude him. He needed a shower. And a meal. Oh yeah, and maybe some sleep.

“Thanks, Clarus.” He sighed out to the man standing nearby.

Clarus chuckled. “You should most assuredly not thank me yet. Do you know what Regis said when I told him Cor Leonis, the boy who ran screaming into the face of death on multiple occasions, wanted to adopt two children?”

Cor felt himself deflate. “No, what did he say?”

“Nothing.” Clarus nodded. “He laughed. In fact, it was the hardest I’ve seen his Highness laugh since...well, it was a good laugh.”

“I appreciate the bout of confidence from you both.” 

The Shield clasped a hand on Cor’s shoulder. “My boy, you have no idea what you’re heading into. But then again, you almost never do. And yet you always manage to come back just fine.” Clarus gave him a parting smile and made his way back home.

Cor hit the back of his head against the wall once, twice, three times. “Alright. Time to break the bad news.”

Back in room 2-164, the girl had noticeably fewer tubes sticking out of her. She still looked exhausted, and angry. A pissy little kid. She obviously felt comfortable being herself in his presence.

“So what’s the final decision? Am I going to the looney bin or Little Miss Lucis elementary?” She asked. A kid her age shouldn’t be able to deliver a joke that perfectly deadpan.

“Neither.” Cor answered, unsure if what he was about to say would be seen as an improvement in her eyes.

“Then...where?”

“You’re going home.” He said.

Her eyes went wide, face turned red. She balled her fists in front of her mouth, stifling a whimper.

Wait. Shit! Shit shit-

“No no, not- Shit no not back there. You’re...MY home. You’re going to live with me! For awhile. For now. MY home.” Cor was very much regretting not getting more sleep before this visit.

Del stared, dumbfounded, processing his erratic correction. “I’m...not going-?”

“No, Gods, no kid. You’re not going back there. Ever. You’re...you and your brother are gonna live with me. For a few months.”

“Oh.” Was all she had to say.

Amazing. He’d been her guardian for all of five minutes and he was already fucking it up.

“The...nurse said I can go tomorrow.” She said.

“Yeah, your discharge paperwork is, uh, we’re working on it. And I’ll be taking you home, uh, back to your new...a safe place to sleep. Your brother needs a couple more days, he’s got…’failure to thrive’. Disease. I guess. A couple more days though and he can join us.”

“Enough time to set up a crib.” She said.

“Yeah.” Wait. Wait yeah, a crib? Kids need a place to sleep. Wait fuck, they need a lot of things. What kind of food did he have? Did kids like it? What the hell did THIS kid like? He needed formula. He suddenly remembered something he read on the cover of a parenting magazine he saw in passing. ‘10 Reasons Why Breast Milk is Better For Your Baby Than Formula!’ Shit. Could he get breast milk? Could he buy that somewhere? He was fucking this up. He was going to give this baby formula and fuck him up. He had string cheese at home, kids like string cheese right?

“You like string cheese, right?” He asked.

She stared at him. “What is string cheese?”

Cor stared back. “This is going to work fine.”

\---

He shoved his key into the door knob long after night had fallen. He could sleep for maybe five hours. Then he had to, at minimum, get a crib, and kid sized bed, and some decent food, and maybe some clothes? Maybe she’d want to pick out her own clothes? Maybe he should have asked her? Pajamas, at least. He could get all those at that department store he saw ads for on tv. There were happy kids in those commercials. Jumping around. Excited about flannel pajama sets on sale for 8.99. 

He opened the door, ready to stumble to the couch (his bed was just too far away) only to notice something large and unfamiliar was in his way. He reached over and flipped on the lightswitch by the door. There was…

A crib. Just...sitting there. In his living room. Cor shut the door behind him and took the three steps over to it. It was a perfectly good, if slightly used, crib. Inside was a wrapped gift and a card.

“Okay.” He said, picking up the card. “This may as well be happening.”

‘Don’t really need this anymore. Enjoy! - C.A.’

Clarus. This must have been his little boy’s old crib. Cor felt like he might cry. He picked up the haphazardly wrapped gift, gingerly taking apart the taped seams, and revealed the white box hidden beneath. A piece of paper was taped to the top of the box. 

‘Good luck! You will need this. -Reg’ He felt a smile breaking out on his face despite himself. That smile quickly dropped as he saw what was inside the box.

‘Parenting for Morons: A Guide for Idiots In Over Their Head.’

Cor took a small amount of solace in the fact that the book was also obviously used. He took the book and dragged his feet down the hall to his room, collapsing into his bed without bothering to remove his shoes.

“Chapter 1: You Are Going to Mess This Up.”

Cor closed the book, threw it aside, and fell asleep.

Cor woke up at ten the next morning. After several expletives and a quick change of clothes, he was out the door and on his way back to the hospital. The book he had tossed in the passenger’s seat mocked him. ‘You are going to mess this up!’ the smug little cartoon man yelled at him from the cover.

“Shut it.” He grumbled to the very much not real person.

Back in the PICU, Del was not in her room. 

“She’s getting a couple of assessments before she’s cleared,” the nurse explained, “just for insurance purposes. The doctor believes she’s medically ready to discharge. It should be no more than an hour.” Cor collapsed in a chair in the waiting room. Across from him was a young couple, both looking exhausted and ready to cry. 

Cor felt like shit.

He opened the book back to the taunting first chapter.

‘You are going to mess this up. And that’s okay! No one is a perfect parent. Just like no child is a perfect kid. What matters is that you and your kid are perfect for each other. In this book, we’ll go over strategies to help you discover what your kid needs from you, and then how to fulfill those needs. We’ll also cover the basics of how to keep that kid alive and thriving. (Oh thank Gods) Finally, we’ll have a section on how to care for yourself when the going really gets tough!’

Okay. Okay not as bad as he thought. It wasn't being sarcastic, it was trying to help. Cor found himself drawn into the hand holdy well meaning prose of the book his dear friend dropped on him. He read over tidbits like, ‘teaching independence’, ‘when are solid foods safe’, and ‘it’s time to take off the training wheels’. Most of the advice boiled down to, ‘You will learn what works best for you and your kid.’

It was equally helpful and useless.

“Mr. Leonis?” The nurse from earlier asked for him. He looked up. The man in scrubs was holding the girl’s hand with his left and a cardboard box in his right. Del was holding a large bag filled with clothes.

Before he could put the book away he noticed her scanning the title.

“Dude…” she said. “Seriously?”

“It was a gift. From a friend.” He said.

She snorted. “Your friend’s a jerk.” 

“Everything good?” He asked the nurse, standing up from his seat.

“Sunshine here is all clear for takeoff. Uh, the staff on the unit all pitched in some things to send her home with.” He handed Cor the open box. Inside were basic necessities: a toothbrush, hairbrush, some ties and ribbons, kid-safe shampoo, and towels. He also noticed coloring books, colored pencils, age-appropriate (for a normal kid) books, and a very gaudy looking box with bright neon colored animals that promised five different craft projects were inside.

“And clothes?” Cor asked, looking at the bag.

“Mostly second hand, we know how hard it is to keep up with growing kids. Just some things to help get you two going. Alright, it’s been a pleasure having you but I hope we never see you here again!” The nurse said to her.

Cor felt offended for a second before realizing he meant because this was the pediatric ICU.

“Gonna miss our littlest CNA.” He said, patting her on the shoulder.

“Certified nursing aide?” Cor asked.

“Certified know it all.” The nurse corrected.

Ah, that made more sense.

The drive back to Cor’s apartment was eerily quiet. She had to be exhausted, after everything they’d been through. He thought for sure she'd fall right asleep in the back seat (Children under the age of 12 should always sit in the back seat). Instead, every time he managed a quick glance to check on her, she was staring out the window. Not just vacantly, but with intention. Scanning every sign, building, person, and tree that passed by. It had been the middle of the night when they arrived, this must have been her first glimpse of the city landscape. He wondered how different it was from the city she was born in. 

Approaching on their left was an all day breakfast restaurant. Cor was struck with the realization he had no idea when he last ate a full meal. Hell, when had SHE last eaten a full meal?

“Hey,” he called to the backseat, “you hungry?”

There was a small pause before he could barely make out a ‘No’.

“You sure? When did they feed you breakfast? You know what, doesn’t matter, we’re getting waffles.” Cor flipped the blinker and turned the car into the diner parking lot. The doctor’s words from several days ago, noting her refusal to eat, echoed in his ears.“This place makes the best waffles in the city, you’re gonna love them.”

She frowned back at him. “I don’t even know what waffles are.”

And that was the saddest thing he’d heard since this whole mess kicked off.

“Yeah. Yeah we’re getting some. Right now.”

\---

Del was completely displeased with the state of things. First, she’d been told the only way to keep her brother with her was to live with the absolute moron who’d fumbled their way over here. Second, she’d been patronized, talked down to, and subjected to a series of verbal tests with obvious measures that could easily be gamed for her advantage. Now, when all she wanted was to put her head under a pillow and disappear into silence for a week, she was sitting on a vinyl cushioned bench, in a too brightly lit dining area, and handed a children’s menu with three broken crayons.

Would the injustices never cease?

She had no interest in the sickly sweet smelling food being cooked behind the far wall, but she had to admit to herself she’d lied about being hungry. Her stomach was growling, and she knew she was supposed to eat, but she just...didn’t want to. The thought of eating made her feel more sick.

The man who insisted on bringing her here ordered on her behalf, since most of the menu was (quite literally) foreign to her. The more time passed before their food would arrive, the closer she knew they’d come to having another conversation. And she would honestly rather rip her own eyeballs out of her skull than talk to the mouth breathing moron who insisted, time and again, on butting into everything around him.

And as much as she loathed the idea, she did need to ask him something. Something only he, unfortunately, could tell her. And waiting any longer would only increase her worries. So, may as well get it over with.

“When does he get to come home too?” She asked, pretending to care about the fanciful lineart composing a simplistic maze on her placemat.

“Your brother?”

She was about to answer with a ‘No, the king, dipshit’ when a plate was set down in front of her. 

“Shy little thing, isn’t she? More coffee, Sir?” The woman in a bright pink dress asked.

The man, Cor, made a face like he’d just heard a hilarious joke, and cleared his throat. “Yes, thank you.”

The woman filled his cup and walked back to the counter.

“Doctor said he needs a couple more days...just a little more time to reach those benchmarks. But the good news is, he’s getting there just fine. Doc says he’s making a quick rebound, getting healthier every day. We’ll be bringing him home in no time.” He took a fork and knife and started cutting into the stack of...waffles, in front of him.

She looked down at her own plate. There was a single one of those waffles, as well as two strawberries right next to each other, a fluffy white substance framing the top, and a slice of fried meat in a semicircle at the bottom of the thing. In the middle was a small scoop of butter.

“Oh. It’s a face.” She observed solemnly, begrudgingly cutting into the food. People here seemed to relish condescending to children. “He needs a name.”

Cor looked like he had only just realized this for the first time.

“Seriously?!” She groaned before taking a bite. It was...surprisingly good? Fluffy, warm, sweet but not too much so.

“It’s...it’s been a long...I figured we could discuss that together.” Yeah, nice save. “You need a name, too.”

“...I have one.” She replied.

“It’s probably a good idea to change it though. At least on paper. We don’t want...anyone finding you.” He lowered his voice. Yeah, that was a pretty bad sentence to be taken out of context. Still, she really hadn’t considered the possibility of a new name for herself. “Unless you really like your name, then we can-”

“I don’t.” She snapped quickly. And she didn’t! She hated the name Delphia. She hated that it sorta almost rhymed with her last name. She hated the way her mother said that name, and the few and far between times her father had said it. She hated every attempt people made at making a nickname out of it. “I want a new one.”

“Alright. Anything you got in mind?” 

She considered the question. She couldn’t think of a single name that didn’t belong to someone she detested. She focused again on the placemat in front of her. Next to the maze was a drawing of a girl, and instructions: ‘Petunia needs to get to school pronto! Help her find a shortcut before the bell rings.’ No, that name also sucked. She took another bite. This dish was growing on her. Finally, she shook her head.

Cor looked at his half finished waffles with a very serious stare. “What do you think about...the name Amelia?” He asked.

She paused. She...didn’t think anything? She didn’t hate it. That had to mean something.

“It’s okay.” She replied.

“It uh, it was my Mom’s name. It means ‘one who strives’. Think it fits you just as well as it did her.” 

Oh Gods, he was getting super sentimental now.

Still, he wasn’t wrong. One who strives, or struggles to achieve something. She certainly felt like she was struggling to achieve some peace and quiet. It was a name she’d never heard her parents say, untainted by their venom. And it was, admittedly, kinda pretty, which shouldn’t matter but added an extra plus.

“It’s good. I’ll take it.” She nodded, stabbing at the bacon smile with her fork.

“Alright. Amelia. Okay.” He exhaled heavily. “That’s one thing done.”

Amelia started to feel sorry for him. “We should take our time picking his name out. It needs to be perfect.” She threw him a bone. She was sure there would be plenty enough missing that she’d have to yell at him for as it was. “Also, you do know they won’t let you take a baby home from the hospital without a car seat, right?”

Cor pulled his cell phone from his pocket and poked around on the screen for a moment.

“Alright, let’s start a list. At the top we have ‘a name’. Now car seat. I’m going to get ahead of whatever sarcastic quip you have brewing and state we already have a crib. Formula, bottles...clothes…pacifiers?”

Amelia sighed. “Prolonged use of pacifiers is correlated with increased middle ear infections and dental issues.”

“So...so uh, no to pacifiers. Bibs. Toys! Babies need toys…” He continued tapping along.

“Diapers.” Amelia added. As much as she didn’t like this guy, she had to admit, unlike every other adult she’d ever met, Cor at least tried. He was genuinely trying to do right by her brother, and that was worth something. It was worth a lot of somethings. “And stuff for a baby first aid kit, like rash cream.”

“Smart, good, see that’s why we’re doing this together. Two brains, we’ve got this.” Cor smiled at her.

For the first time since she left that awful place, she actually believed him.

\---

“Just one more overnight, and your baby brother will be all set to go home!” The social worker smiled down at Amelia. “Now, since this is a foster care situation, we do have a few questions to ensure everything’s good to go. Just some basics.”

“Alright, give it to me.” Cor sighed. Amelia was busy standing on her toes, staring lovingly at the baby who was now able to see the world around him. And he was making noises. Adorable noises.

“Do you have a car seat properly installed to legal specifications?”

“Got it in this morning. Completely secure.”

“Great. Are there smoke and carbon monoxide detectors in your home?”

“Brand new, fresh batteries.”

“Electrical outlets?”

“Plastic plugs. And the cabinets have plastic baby locks. Got rid of the long cords on the blinds too.” Cor smirked, very proud of the many, many hours of work he and Amelia had put into getting everything ready. 

“Why does his wristband say that?” She asked, pointing at the baby.

Cor frowned and looked over. On his medical bracelet was printed ‘BBBOY TRAPROMPTO’

“Oh, that’s a naming code we use for infant medical records. The first part is to identify him as a baby boy. Then the TRA part stands for ‘trauma’, which is the unit where his record was started. When we don’t have a last name for the baby, the electronic charting program randomly assigns a word as a placeholder name, completely unique from everyone else in our system. That way we can make sure all of his care stays in the same record.”

“But, when he gets a real name, you’ll be changing it?” Cor asked. Dumb question. He felt like he was asking a lot of dumb questions lately. Better to look dumb than screw something up completely and be dumb AND a bad parent.

The social worker nodded. “The medical record number will be reassigned to the new name.”

“Hm.” Was all Amelia had to say.

“You know, everyone on the team thought it was funny the computer assigned him the name ‘Prompto’. In latin it means ‘quick’. And he’s certainly been quick to come back from such a precarious state. Well Mr. Leonis, it sounds like you have everything under control.”

Cor suppressed the urge to break down laughing.

“Here’s my card with my contact information, if you have any problems or needs please don’t hesitate to call me. It’s been a pleasure meeting you, Amelia. And you’ll be going to a happy home tomorrow, won’t you? We’re all going to miss you, Prompto.” She smiled and waved at the little family unit before leaving the room.

“Prompto!” Amelia whispered. The boy turned his head to look at her. “Prompto!” She said again, putting her arms in the air. The boy giggled. It was the best sound Cor had ever heard in his life. “I think he thinks his name is Prompto now.” She said, turning back to look at Cor.

“Alright. That’s the last item on the list then.” Cor didn’t think too hard about the name. It certainly felt cute being attached to that little face. They stayed there awhile longer, Amelia making sounds and faces just for her giggling brother, Cor sitting slumped in a chair smiling at the display. The nurses passing by commented on what a sweet looking family they were, and what a lucky woman the mother must be. Cor had to laugh at the assumption. No, he was in this by himself. And he was going to screw this up. And apparently, that was okay.


	2. Prompto is Two Years Old, and it's the Holiday Season

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Holidays can be complicated.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so happy some of y'all love my trash mouth daughter as much as I love writing her. As always you can find me at bramblepeltao3.tumblr.com!

It had been 10 months since Amelia found her place in a new home, and 7 since her name officially changed. She’d started school at an awful terrible snobby place full of awful terrible snobby girls. The administration was worried she’d be behind in her class, and just to prove a point, she’d asked to see the professor’s syllabus for the year and picked it apart for being trite and underachieving.

Sometimes she felt like she took things too far. She didn’t really know how to turn it off.

But whatever was going on with her didn’t matter. What really mattered was her little brother, and he was excelling. He’d reached all the basic benchmarks a two year old is supposed to and then some. She’d made sure she spent a good deal of time coaching him on different cognitive exercises appropriate for his age cohort. Things like pointing at named objects and sorting items by color and size. According to all the pediatric developmental guides she’d memorized, he was coming in above average.

And he also really liked chocobos. Like, really really liked them a lot for someone who’d never seen one in person before. His first word was ‘chokebo’. Cor hadn’t been around for it, so they kept that little detail to themselves. As far as he was concerned Prompto’s first word was “Da”, at Amelia’s fervent coaching. The guy worked super hard and missed out on a lot, she could at least throw him that much.

The Lucian Pediatric Association best practice guidelines recommended 18 months was the minimum age before stuffed animal toys were safe. Right when he passed that threshold, she’d given him the green chocobo she’d left Niflheim with. She didn’t need it anymore, it was for babies. And Prompto was in fact a baby. Ergo, she happily handed it over to him. 

Things were, surprisingly, going pretty well. The man who had for whatever reason decided to continue being their guardian had managed not to get them all killed. She was very impressed in that regard. But she had to give most of the credit for that to Ms. Asha, the very nice young woman who watched them while Cor was at work. Which was very, very often.

Ms. Asha was a bit of an enigma to Amelia. She was a college student majoring in engineering, and Amelia wanted to talk with her about everything going on in her classes. But Ms. Asha seemed more interested in baby stuff, and was befuddled that Amelia wasn’t. It was certainly good for Prompto’s development but left Amelia feeling quite frustrated.

She’d gone ahead and read Ms. Asha’s textbooks while she was busy playing peek-a-boo. 

But that was fine, as Ms. Asha was mostly there to watch Prompto anyway. Amelia spent most of her days in school, and she was being pressured by her counselor to spend even more time there after classes as all the most well rounded young ladies took part in social clubs and extracurriculars. Normally she wouldn’t make this sort of observation, but holy shit, they were all just seven years old.

Maybe they all really wanted to spend as little time as possible with their families.

And while she normally felt like she was years ahead of everyone else in her class, today she’d been thrown for a complete loop and felt totally lost. Today, the teacher asked everyone what their families’ traditions were for the Winter Solstice.

Amelia sat befuddled, having no clue what Winter Solstice was and why every single student in her class had an answer for this question. She’d felt like shrinking into her chair and disappearing when it was her turn to speak. She’d decided the best strategy was to keep her mouth shut and not reveal her ignorance on the matter.

Her efforts were rewarded with the teacher stating, “Oh yes, you’re adopted. I suppose you don’t have family traditions quite yet.” And moved on.

Amelia had never punched an adult before but damn was she really itching to right then.

So she’d asked Ms. Asha, a college educated intelligent young woman who surely understood their plight, what Winter Solstice was. In response she’d found an animated stop motion film on television, where all the people had really big ears, and they babbled on about miracles and family and also the animals could talk. She now had more questions than answers.

And maybe Cor would be able to tell her. So over dinner that night she’d asked.

“Wait, didn’t you have Winter Solstice over in…?” The man looked very exhausted and overworked so she once again cut him a break and tried to temper her attitude. Even if he deserved it.

“No.”

“Did...did you have any holidays there?”

“Just the Emperor’s birthday where we all had to send him our praise and then for dinner we had to eat his favorite meal which is this weird meatloaf and cranberries and then we sang a song about how great he is.”

“I...I really cannot tell if you’re being sarcastic right now.”

“Unfortunately I am not.”

Cor sighed and pulled out his phone. “Ok, I’ll try to explain it, but you need to eat your dinner and not just move things around with your fork.”

Damn him.

So Cor explained how there were six holidays celebrating six gods and each one had different purposes, traditions, and meanings. Winter Solstice was for the goddess Shiva, celebrated on the longest night of the year, and the bringing of ice and snow. It was traditionally a means of trying to win Shiva’s favor and request her mercy in the winter to come.

It involved a lot of shiny lights to show their hope for light in the darkness, decorating anything and everything around them to entice Shiva with her penchant for pretty things, and big bonfires as a symbol of her love. Because for some reason the goddess of ice was super in love with the god of fire. It was also tradition to offer gifts in sacrifice to the bonfires.

At least that was the purpose in ancient times. Most of the traditions still existed, just divorced from their original meaning. It was a little guache now to burn sacrifices, especially in the name of a, well, dead goddess. So instead people wrapped up their gifts and gave them to each other.

And as it turned out many of those ancient traditions ended up evolving when passed down through generations of old noble families. Thus, the little time killing diversion in class that day.

“So...what did your family do?” Amelia asked, genuinely curious now.

“Oh, uh well, you know, the basic stuff that everyone does. You buy presents for each other, put up some decorations, lots of lights, make cookies...oh, one year we went to the ballet. I was bored out of my mind but most kids are.”

Amelia realized she had never once considered that at some point in history Cor had been a kid, just like her. The thought was...very weird. 

“So are we...doing any of that stuff?” She didn’t know if she was asking with hope or dread. It certainly sounded interesting, but also a pain. But also, maybe all the pretty lights and decorations and presents would make Prompto happy. The boy in question was currently getting more of his mashed sweet potato on his face and bib than in his mouth, but damn if he wasn’t trying.

“Yeah. Yeah, we can. Uh, I don’t have anything from...well, I haven’t had a reason to actually decorate or do anything since I was a kid.” He pulled out his phone. “I’ll make time. This weekend, we’ll go to that big department store and pick out a few things.”

Oh. This was turning into more of an ordeal than Amelia had expected. 

“It’s not a big deal dude, I just found out this thing exists.” She tried to reassure him.

“No, no this is important.” He looked very serious staring at the calendar app on his phone. He was typing away, making plans. Amelia wished she was tall enough to look over the table and see what he was writing. She decided instead to place her attentions where they were most needed: Prompto showing off the art he’d made via smashing his hands into his dinner.

She was beginning to feel anxious that she’d opened up something she was going to regret. Everytime Cor tried to do ‘dad’ things it was so forced and awkward. That’s not what she was here for. That’s not what they were supposed to be here for. She figured they had an understanding, that she was smarter than him and could handle herself and most of what her brother needed. He provided the roof and material goods and in return she would try not to be too much of a jerk. She figured this was an unspoken agreement. Apparently it needed to be said out loud.

“It’s fine, it’s really not important.” She said, wiping some of the mess off Prompto’s face.

“It is, though.” He said, in a very firm tone. 

It took Amelia by surprise to hear him so sure of it. She really didn’t care about these weird ancient holidays, but apparently he really did. Whatever. If he wanted to waste time and energy on this kind of thing, who was she to try and stop him? 

It was his house after all, he could do what he wanted. And if he really screwed things up, well, she had a backlog of mean words ready to go at a moment’s notice. Whatever he had planned couldn’t possibly be worse than cranberry meatloaf praise the Emperor day.

Probably.

\---

Cor couldn’t believe he’d forgotten Winter Solstice was coming. Yes, his work was getting increasingly time consuming and his attention was consistently being dragged between the many responsibilities befitting a Marshal and a...guardian. Prompto was outgrowing his clothes seemingly every week. He had medical checkups to go to, and it was important to read to him as much as possible. And Amelia’s school had so many stupid particular requirements they both had to meet, like parent teacher meetings and all these activities outside of school hours.

Still. Winter Solstice had been his favorite holiday when he was a little kid. He had so many nice memories of being with his parents, eating hot cookies from the oven, walking around the neighborhood and seeing all the fun lights and decorations people put up. (According to his parenting for morons book: family traditions help a child feel connected to their family and community) Oh and of course the presents. Every kid’s favorite part of the day. 

His mom had been a gift giving genius. She always knew exactly what everyone wanted, even when they themselves didn’t know. Getting a gift from her was her way of saying she loved you completely and did everything she could to know and understand you.

He really missed her, especially around this time of year. 

And frankly he couldn’t think of a better way to honor her memory than to get some way too bright lights, gaudy decorations, and buy the best possible presents for his- these kids. He felt like screwing that small amount up would result in being haunted by his mother’s disappointed face every Winter Solstice going forward. He’d never been one to disappoint his mother.

And so here he was, a week before the holiday, at one of the biggest department stores in the city, completely regretting his timing and choices. Why did he think bringing a toddler here was a good idea? Why did he think Amelia would be anything but pissy about this whole thing? Why hadn’t he realized that these places would be packed with people doing their last minute holiday shopping. Just. Like. Him.

The seasonal decoration section was painfully picked through. He managed to find a couple boxes of multi color lights though, enough to decorate the front door and one of the windows. That was fine for now. He could start a stock, and maybe one day he’d have even half of the festive supply his mother had amassed. Prompto had also made it quite clear to everyone around them that he noticed a holiday wreath with a big silver glittery chocobo charm on the bottom.

Cor had no idea what chocobos had to do with the solstice but who was he to argue with this toddler? 

It wasn’t much, but it was a start. He’d also picked up the ingredients for making cookies. He was pretty sure he remembered the recipe she’d used. And since it was going to get colder soon they may as well get a few sweaters. So then the only thing left was...the presents. And he couldn’t just buy them here in front of them, that completely negated the entire point of it.

He’d have to find some time later to take care of that. And he’d need that time, because holy shit, what was he going to buy this kid? Prompto was easy. At least he was for now. Anything bright and shiny was good as gold to him, extra points if it even slightly resembled what he liked to call ‘chokebos’. He could probably unwrap a pair of socks or a new toothbrush and it would be the best day of his little life.

But Amelia...oh boy. If the displays in the store were to be believed, little seven year old girls wanted bright and flashy fashion dolls, mix your own lip gloss kits, and bedazzled notebooks with giant feather glitter pens. The thought of giving her any of those things was hilarious. He wasn’t sure she’d know what to do with a fashion doll. Those things would be perfect if his aim was to insult her.

And that was the problem. ‘Normal’ marketed to little girls things would not work here. She was painfully utilitarian when it came to picking out her own possessions, and by her own edict she had no toys. Just books, all of them non-fiction. Usually about science topics. He’d have to think outside of the gift giving box.

He’d have to think like his mom, and figure out something that she didn’t even know she wanted. She would probably be angry at the assertion that there was something she didn’t know.

\---

The bright flickering light display completely entranced the two year old, just like Cor knew it would. Prompto’s open mouthed wide eyed gawking entranced Amelia, just like Cor knew it would. The string of lights were perfectly outlining the front door, giving a beautiful little frame to the chocobo wreath hanging from the knocker. The lights reflected on the glittery metallic piece, creating a gorgeous little display.

“Alright, cookies should be cooled down enough by now. There’s a cheesy holiday movie starting in a couple minutes too. And that will complete the night before the Winter Solstice experience.” 

“So these stay up for one day and then you take them down again?” Amelia asked, studying the blinking patterns.

“Well normally these go up earlier in the month, sometimes two months ahead. Some people keep them up until the new year.”

“That sounds like it would kill the novelty.” She observed.

“Yeah, some people are just really into the holiday.” Cor shuffled awkwardly. 

When push came to shove he hadn’t been able to pick out anything decent for Amelia. He did buy her some fleece tights to wear with her school uniform, which she’d no doubt appreciate for the functionality. And the two of them had brainstormed a massive amount of gifts for Prompto (whittled down to three). There were also a couple of gifts that had been sent over from his friends. So there were certainly wrapped items waiting to be opened tomorrow morning. But damn, he really wished he could have hit on something perfect for the girl.

Cor picked up the toddler, whose eyes did not move from the light show. He reached out to touch the chocobo piece and seemed shocked that it was still the same metal chocobo he had been tapping and poking at earlier. 

“Chokebo…” He said, as if mystified at the transformation. It made Cor feel like the worst person who ever lived when he had to open the door and block his view of the shiny distraction. He’d have to invest in more chocobo decorations. A lot more.

In the kitchen the cookies were cooled off enough for a two year old to hold and gnaw on. Cor had researched about fifty different cookie recipes online and stumbled on what he hoped was something as close as possible to the ones his mom had made.

Distressingly, it was the recipe printed on the back of the Checker sugar bags. The same brand he remembered always being in their pantry. And now here they were, looking and smelling like a warm memory from his childhood. His mom’s secret special holiday cookie recipe was the one that existed in just about every home in the city.

In all honesty, there was something kind of comforting in knowing some of the best experiences he had with her were more attainable than he’d assumed.

Back in the living room, Prompto was carefully wrapped up in a fleece blanket with his stuffed chocobo toy. The one Amelia had given him. He’d been gifted several additional stuffed toys since, but this was the one he dragged around everywhere. 

Amelia was flipping through the channels before stopping on one currently blasting fanciful music punctuated with ringing bells. The opening credits were white against brightly colored backgrounds, and the music swelled into a crescendo as the title of the film materialized on to the screen:

“A Winter Wonderland Adventure”

Starring the acting talents of celebrities whose hay days had passed before Cor himself had been born. He hadn’t seen this film in almost twenty years, and even by then it was a pretty old movie. It was just one of those really quotable films with memorable songs that played all the time during this time of year.

The story began with a young woman who lived in the big city. She had a good job and her own home and a boyfriend and friends but she felt like something was missing in her life. So she decided to visit her parents for the holiday in hopes of finding what was missing.

And this was the part he remembered the most: the fact that the protagonist's family lived on a chocobo farm. And sure enough the moment the first one showed up on screen Prompto pointed and yelled “CHOKEBO!” He spent the next twenty minutes entranced by the film as more and more real life chocobos were featured in every scene. 

The woman, see, she had lost touch with her roots and had forgotten how to work on a chocobo farm. Because she moved to the big city and got a big city job. So there was a montage of her trying to help her parents out but she’d end up tripping into a bale of hay, getting her fancy city clothes all messed up, accidentally spooking one of the birds and getting dragged behind one. Each mishap was punctuated with a sad horn sound.

“I don’t understand. She said earlier she moved to the city three years ago.” Amelia said.

“Yeah?”

“And now she’s reminiscing about how she’d been working on the farm since she was a kid. So what, she leaves for three whole years and completely forgets how to do basic things she grew up doing?”

“Look, it’s a holiday movie, I never said it was a good movie.”

And then the love interest showed up. A country boy who lived next door who the woman remembered as a childhood friend. They bonded over their shared love of chocobos (which got more screen time, much to Prompto’s delight). The man was ruggedly handsome and...kind of a dick. 

“Wait, did he just tell her that her having a career is a bad thing?” Amelia asked.

“Wow, this kind of stuff tends to go over your head as a kid. Well, not your head. I mostly remembered the chocobos.”

“Wait why are they dancing now? Wait why are they singing now?!”

“It’s just something they did in old movies. It was kind of expected there’d be at least one musical number.”

“He just belittled everything about her life choices, why does she look so happy?!”

“Yeah this is...this hasn’t aged so well…”

And then, the big city boyfriend dropped in to try and convince her to come back to the big city because the holiday didn’t really matter. But the woman tells him no, she wants to take over the family business now! And the big city boyfriend...has a whole song and dance number about how the farm will go to ruin if she ran it because she can’t do math.

“What...the f-”

“Language.”

“No really, what the-”

“I’m sorry, it’s been a long time, I forgot how bad-”

“Insulting!”

“Terrible…”

Then the woman began a sad song about how math was hard so she had no choice, no choice at all, but to marry the asshole big city boyfriend. But then country neighbor boyfriend swoops in and convinces her that her place was there with him and he’d take care of the hard parts for her and proposes marriage, to which she agrees.

“SHE’S KNOWN HIM FOR TWO DAYS!” Amelia yelled.

“This is the worst. This is so bad.”

“Wait, are they playing that first song again, are they going to dance AGAIN?!”

“No no this is the ending it’s just-”

“SHE’S IN A WEDDING DRESS ON A CHOCOBO!” Amelia started screeching with laughter. 

“Oh Gods this is so bad, this is such a bad message.”

“CHOKEBO!”

The credits rolled, Prompto bounced in his seat to the beat of the festive music, Amelia was quite literally on the floor laughing, and Cor was taking in the scene with his hands on his face, peeking between his fingers. That was a nightmare. He had no idea just how terrible the story in that movie was. And still it was considered a must watch classic played on every channel every year!

“Dude..” she managed to squeak out between laughing fits, “That sucked. That was so bad. How could anyone make that and think it was good? Like, WHAT WAS THAT?!” 

Well, at least she was laughing. She’d pulled herself back up to sitting, actual tears on her face, and grabbed a cookie off the coffee table.

“That was incredible. Are there more?” She asked.

“More cookies?”

“No, well I mean the cookies are really good, I mean more bad movies?”

Hell yes, the cookies were good.

“There are probably more bad movies in existence than good ones to be honest.” Cor replied. “And yeah, a lot of holiday movies are very terrible…” He was going through the list of holiday classics from his childhood in his head. Almost all of them in retrospect either had terrible, poorly aged morals or awful production quality even for the time they were made. Not to mention the ones that were made just to sell a particular toy that year. There was no end to the Gods awful movie list.

“Cool, I wanna watch them all.” She said while taking another cookie. 

“Well, that’ll have to wait, for now it’s long past bedtime.”

Prompto yawned right on cue, before rubbing his eyes and saying, “I’m not sleeby.” 

“Yes you are dude, come on. If you go to sleep now you’ll time travel to tomorrow morning and you’ll get to open all those presents.” Amelia said while helping him down from the couch. “Gotta practice brushing your teeth first.” She took him by the hand and started walking him to the bathroom.

It wasn’t the classic holiday experience he’d hoped to create, but it had been something good nonetheless. Prompto was happy. Amelia had laughed. The cookies were exactly as he remembered them (thanks Mom for using the most obvious and simple recipe ever) and both kids enjoyed those too. All things considered, the evening had actually managed to go pretty well.

He still felt bad about that whole gifting thing, though.

Unless…

\---

“AMI AMI AMI, UP UP!”

Amelia groaned as her little brother climbed up on her bed and started bouncing on the mattress. She looked over at her digital clock glowing in the darkness, 5:07 am. “Dude…” she grabbed onto his arm to try and get him to stop. “It’s five in the morning, the sun isn’t even out yet…”

“Presents! Ami! Presents!” The boy fell to his knees and started shaking her.

“Noooooo…Go back to sleep. You can’t open presents until Dad wakes up anyway…” And there was no way Cor was awake right now.

Amelia was not in the business of referring to Cor as ‘Dad’. She’d already had one of those before and it sucked. She was doing just fine without one now, thank you very much. But Prompto hadn’t, and he deserved to have the nice things normal kids were supposed to have. So when they were alone, and Cor wasn’t around to hear, she’d call him that just to normalize it for Prompto. 

That was the only reason.

“Just sleep for like one more hour, come on Prom…” She patted the space next to her in bed, inviting him to go back to sleep right there. Prompto was having none of it. He stood up, half slid half fell off Amelia’s bed, and took off down the hallway. Amelia threw her blanket over head as she heard her little brother screaming for Cor to wake up.

She closed her eyes and opened them again, the clock now saying 5:23. The air smelled distinctly of coffee, meaning Prompto had succeeded in pulling Cor out of bed. And it wouldn’t be long before he-

“AMI AMI AMI AMI!” There he was again, pulling at her blankets, all sunshine smiles and pure excitement.

“Okay. Okay fine. I’m coming…” Amelia started to pull herself out of bed, her one weakness in the whole star anxiously hopping up and down. “Go on, go tell Dad I’m coming.”

“Okay!” He squeaked, and took off way too fast back out again. Amelia sighed, preparing herself for another day of weird forced family time. ‘Do it for Prompto’ had become her motto. Just because she was a damaged jaded jerk, didn’t make it okay to ruin it for him. It was chillier today, but she was too tired to change clothes yet, so she pulled a sweater on over her pajamas and made her way out to the living room.

On the couch was Cor, looking like he hadn’t slept at all, already halfway through his giant mug of coffee. The television was set on some little kid holiday cartoon special that had temporarily grasped Prompto’s attention enough to keep him occupied until she joined them.

Children aren’t supposed to have screen time before three years of age. That’s what all the experts recommended. But damn, was it convenient.

Cor nodded at her as she joined him on the couch. “Next year he can open his presents the night before.”

“Agreed.” Amelia replied. 

“Okay presents!” Prompto ran over to the stack of boxes wrapped in brightly colored paper. He picked up a small green one and ran it over to Cor.

“Mmhm, this is for your sister.” He said, handing it over to her.

“Oh.” She legitimately had not expected to get anything. She had everything she needed, and certainly hadn’t asked for anything. In fact had Cor made it known he was going to buy her anything she would’ve told him not to bother and just get more toys for Prompto instead.

Still…

She carefully opened the wrapping paper and revealed the...surprisingly practical gift inside. Warm tights. Yeah, she’d probably be needing these soon.

“Thank you.” She said, and genuinely meant it. It hadn’t occurred to her that presents could sometimes just be something you might need and could get during regular times too. 

Prompto was getting antsy again. Cor pointed at a larger box in silver paper. “That one right there is yours, go open that one. Nope, the one next to it. Nope, the other one next to-yes that one. Open that one.” He took a very long drink of his coffee. Amelia yawned and wondered if he’d let her have some too.

“Chokebo!” Prompto yelped, holding up the cardboard box. Inside was a yellow plastic chocobo that had a little tape player in it’s chest. It included two tapes that had kid friendly songs listed on the box.

“Is that the one that dances while it plays music?” Amelia asked.

“Yup. It’s going to get so annoying.” Cor got up to refill his coffee. 

Amelia took a deep breath. Now was probably the appropriate time. While Prompto was busy being enchanted with the newest addition to his chocobo collection, Amelia walked back to her room and pulled the wrapped box out from under her bed. She’d bought this with the allowance money she had been saving for a year’s subscription to the Journal of Pediatric Medicine. But then she’d realized she could read the abstracts for free online, which was pretty much all she needed. So instead she’d taken that money and bought this. For him.

And for some stupid dumb idiot reason she really, really hoped he liked it.

Upon returning to the living room she was bombarded by Prompto asking her to open the box for him. She put the box wrapped in blue paper down on the couch and helped free the plastic bird from it’s cardboard prison.

“Hey, where’d this one come from?” Cor was back, pointing at the box in his seat.

“Oh. It’s...for you.” Amelia said quickly, before returning to her task.

She heard the paper crinkling and felt her face go red. 

“Oh. Wow. Kid, you got this?” He asked.

Amelia turned around to see him holding the waffle maker she’d picked out. She nodded, before clarifying, “It’s from both of us.” Yeah because Prompto totally had the cognizance to help plan this.

“I…” he looked genuinely touched. From a waffle maker. “I just...didn’t even think I needed this.”

“Dude you’re acting like you’ve never gotten a gift before...Prom hold on, it needs batteries, it’s not gonna work yet.”

“This was really thoughtful, Amelia.”

“You’re making this weird, stop making it weird.”

“Wait, how did you get this?”

“I stole it!”

“Amelia…”

“CHOKEBO!” Prompto held his plastic bug-eyed bird in the air. Amelia walked over to the present stack to find another thing for her brother to freak out over. Two matching gifts stood out, one for each of them.

“Oh, here, this is from Uncle Reggie.” She said, letting Prompto start opening his first in case they were the same thing. Inside the box was a book with a very happy looking cartoon creature on the cover. “My Magical Moogle Adventures?” Amelia read, then frowned at the box in her own hand. She ripped off the paper and inside was “My Magical Miss Moogle Adventure.” It looked the same as Prompto’s except the creature on her’s was pink. 

This was from the King. Amelia was sure the King was trolling her. Or Cor. Maybe both of them.

“Oh yeah, Reg said that’s his kid’s favorite…” Cor rubbed a hand over his face.

“Here Prompto, they’re both for you.” Amelia said, handing the pink book to him. He was happy to be holding them but quickly turned back to his not yet functioning chocobo toy.

Amelia turned back to the pile, trying to guess which of the boxes held that big building blocks   
set. That didn’t need batteries for him to start playing with.

“Hey, that one wasn’t there last night…” She frowned, pointing at a rather large cardboard box in the corner. It wasn’t wrapped, but it did have a ribbon stuck on the top.

“Yup.” Cor replied, reading the instruction manual for the waffle maker. “It’s yours, you should open it.”

What. One present from him was already more than enough, there was another? She opened the flaps of the box and looked inside. There were stacks of movies. Too many to just count. She pulled one out of the box, titled: “Revenge of the Karate Blood Wolf 2”. This implied the existence of another Karate Blood Wolf film. There was another titled “Night on Cold Harbor” that looked equally as old as the holiday film from the previous night. Several of the boxes had a sticker labeling them as great deals, 8 movies on 1 disc, and clearance. 

“These are…?” Amelia asked.

“Bad movies.” Cor replied.

“Like, really bad?”

“The worst I could find.”

“There’s so many, they’re all terrible?”

“Either notoriously terrible, bad ones I’ve seen before, or the description made it sound awful.”

Amelia was going to cry. There were so many in the box, and some of them had multiple different movies on them. 

“I went to the only store that was still open last night and got every bargain bin trash movie I could find. And we can go hunting for more if you want. Figured we may as well start a collection.”

This was the most thoughtful, incredible, best gift she had ever been given in her entire life. She steeled herself against crying like a baby and picked one out in particular. “Bigfoot Snow Storm Massacre”.

“Can we watch this one?!” She asked.

Cor frowned. “Not until your brother takes his nap.”

That was more than fair.

So by seven in the morning Prompto was asleep on the floor, a plastic chocobo in one arm and yellow chocobo print pajamas in the other. Cor had set himself up in the kitchen, getting ready for his first attempt at making his favorite food. And Amelia walked back and forth between them, reading the descriptions for each movie and building excitement for many a terrible movie night to come.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. Rankin/Bass cartoons now exist in FFXV
> 
> 2\. "Old holiday movie that has a lead character who thinks she has to marry the villain because math is hard" is based on something very real from my own childhood, and here's the Math is Hard song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=936MhNrsSSs


	3. Prompto is Three Years Old, and Painting is Fun

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And things were going so well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all, I cannot believe this, there is ART!!! I'm so happy. [Look at how cute this is!!!](https://twitter.com/CarrieVogel5/status/1339772495792992256)
> 
> Please [go follow MysteriousBean5 over on twitter](https://twitter.com/CarrieVogel5) for some fantastic FFXV art!!!
> 
> Also a brief little warning, this chapter makes mention of some stuff that, while not intended to be an eating disorder, could possibly be triggering to those with/recovering from one.

“That’s it. You’re going to therapy.” Cor sighed while taking off his jacket.

“What the fuck? No I’m not.” The eight year old girl slammed her bag to the ground and looked defiantly at one of the most dangerous men in the nation. “You can’t make me.”

Said the child to the leader of the gods damned entire nation’s military force.

“Watch your language. The Dean said one more fight and you’re getting kicked out. I pulled too many strings to get you into that school, and I’m not going to just stand by and watch you throw away this opportunity!”

“Shove your opportunity up your ass!” The four foot tall angry ball of blonde sass yelled back at him.

The two began arguing over each other at an increasingly loud volume.

“See, Ami, that’s exactly what I’m talking about. Normal eight year old girls don’t talk like that.”  
“Oh sorry I’m not a normal little girl! Wanna force me to take ballet lessons while you’re at it!?”  
“You need therapy, you should’ve been getting it this whole time.”  
“Yeah dump me on a psych. That’ll solve the Amelia problem. Great idea Cor! “  
“Look at you! That bruise from last week hasn’t even healed yet and now you’ve got a busted lip. People are going to think I beat-”  
“I can go see a stranger and tell them all about that time I helped you steal a baby from-”

“Mr. Leonis?” A young woman with long black hair holding a toddler peeked out from the hallway into the living room. 

Cor immediately regret letting himself get to this point *again*. Losing his shit arguing with a little kid, *again*. In front of the babysitter. Forgetting there would be a babysitter at home. *Again*.

Amelia’s tune changed instantly. “Prompto!” She smiled and skipped over to where the babysitter was gently setting her baby brother down. She threw her arms around him and scooped him up in a big hug.

“Sorry you had to hear that, Asha. You...you know how she is.” Cor reached into his pocket for his wallet.

Asha nodded pleasantly. “She can certainly be a handful.”

“How much do I owe you?” he asked.

“Mr. Leonis, you paid me for the whole week yesterday…” Asha gently reminded him.

“Right. Right...Everything uh, good with the boy?”

Asha’s face brightened. “Oh yes, he learned all the colors of the rainbow today! And he took his nap on time and ate all of his lunch. He’s already had his bath because he got paint on himself. Also, dinner is in the oven. It should be done when the timer goes off. Just make sure it cools for ten minutes before they eat it.”

“Thanks Asha. Don’t know what I’d do without you.”

Asha merely smiled in response. She said her goodbyes to the kids and left the three of them alone to a very long weekend.

“Show me!” Amelia said. Prompto took her hand and walked her the few steps to the kitchen, pointing at the newest addition to the Leonis Family Art Installation currently on exhibit at the refrigerator. “That’s so good, Prompto! Can you tell me what these colors are?” She pointed at the messy little rainbow the boy had painted earlier that day.

Cor was relieved that she was always this sweet and caring when it came to her little brother, but the emotional whiplash of how she spoke to the boy compared to, well, everyone else was painful sometimes.

“That’s...green!” Prompto pointed at the blue line.

“Really close, you want to try again?” She gently encouraged him.

“Mmmmm...blue?” he asked. Amelia smiled and nodded her head.

“You’re so good at this!” She said, taking him into another big hug. The boy giggled. The whole scene was adorable. It almost made putting up with her worth it.

Almost.

And things had been going so well, too. They’d almost fallen into a comfortable, damn near family like dynamic. And then the new school year started, and immediately something just snapped in the kid. Instead of a condescending, closed off little jerk she’d transformed into a condescending closed off little jerk with severe anger problems. And the more Cor had tried to reach out and help, the further back she pulled away.

“Dad!” Prompto’s attention turned to him, much to Amelia’s annoyance. The toddler made his way over to Cor, who scooped him up and held him close with one arm.

“How’s my little guy doing?” he asked. Amelia rolled her eyes and walked past them, heading to her room. 

“I painted!” Prompto chirped. “And then, um, we folded the clothes. I folded the socks!”

“Did you now?” Everything was an adventure to this kid. He made the most mundane and boring tasks sound like the most exciting activity you could possibly engage in.

“Yup. And...Miss Asha read the Golden Chokeboh and I wanted her to read it again, so I said please, and she did.” 

How could one little kid be so damn perfect?

“Miss Asha is going to spoil you. I bet you want me to read it again before bedtime?” Prompto nodded enthusiastically. 

The oven beeped. Cor had hoped for a little more time before dinner to look through his messages, but work would have to wait. (Kids need rules and structure in order to make sense of the world around them.) The book was very clear on that front. One rule was no phones at the dinner table. Despite how much he wanted to do otherwise, he had to at least maintain this one thing. Dinner at the table, no tv or phones. Please let’s try to pretend we are a family. Please.

“Gotta get that buddy, why don’t you go bug your sister and let her know dinner’s almost ready?” Cor put him down on the carpet and sent him off with an encouraging pat on the back.

Dinner looked incredible, as always. After years of cart food and frozen single serving meals, coming back to the occasional home cooked dinner was a blessing. He set the timer for 10 minutes and pulled his phone out to check his inbox. He lingered on the home screen for a moment, and decided instead to open the browser in the secured Citadel intranet. He searched around a few pages, trying to find what he hoped was there, until finally he found it: a photo of an older woman with short chestnut hair, wearing a white coat, smiling gently. Next to the photo was a small paragraph that included, ‘Specializes in PTSD, anxiety, depression, childhood trauma, and developmental disorders’. He could make an appointment right there with his phone. Perfect.

The oven beeped again. Right on time the kids came back to the dining area, Prompto guiding his reluctant sister by the hand to the table.

“I helped make it!” Prompto said while climbing into his chair. Amelia sat next to him, looking sullen, her eyes were red and puffy. 

Shit.

“You helped cook dinner?” Cor asked.

Prompto nodded. “I took the cheese out of the bag and um, I put it on top!”

“And look at what a great job you did, that cheese is spread very nicely all over.” It was certainly a meal meant for the tastes of children, but it was warm and nutritious and he was thankful for it all the same. 

Amelia was staring at her plate, moving a few pieces of pasta around without actually eating any of it. This was a constant struggle. She would skip meals when she was in a shit mood, and that in turn would make her mood even worse.

“Ami, you’re not gonna snub something your brother worked so hard on, are you?” Cor asked. It was a low blow, but often a necessary one.

Amelia glared at him, then stabbed the food with her fork and ate it. She could be pissy all she wanted, as long as she ate her damn food.

“What are rainbows made of?” Prompto asked between bites.

“It’s an illusion caused by the sun’s light reflecting and refracting in water droplets suspended in the atmosphere.” It was like she was reading from a cue card.

“Oh.” Prompto said, as if he understood any of that.

Cor was going to say sky magic but Amelia’s explanation worked too.

“They teach you that in school?” Cor asked, trying to get something other than moping out of the girl.

“No.” She replied curtly, like he was an annoying idiot for assuming she would learn things in school.

“I wanna go to school!” Prompto yelled. Cor hoped this kid never, ever stopped being like this.

“No school until you’re older.” Cor replied. Two and a half years older, to be more precise.

“Aaawww.”

Cor could swear he caught a small crooked grin on Amelia’s face. 

“Don’t worry, you’ll be there soon enough, and then you’ll be whining to me about how you don’t want to go to school anymore.” Prompto seemed to find Cor’s statement hilarious. 

“Ami what did you do at school today?” The little boy asked.

Cor looked at her with a face that silently said ‘Do not be sarcastic do not curse and do not mention you got in a fight.’

She looked back with a face that screamed ‘No shit, idiot.’

“We had a current events discussion...that’s when you read the newspaper and talk about all the boring old men in the stories.” Again, Prompto found this to be very funny. “And then we had to look at really old paintings and talk about how you could figure out which paintings were way older than the others.”

So social studies and art history.

“Were they better than mine?” Prompto asked, pointing at the fridge.

“No way, dude.” Amelia was full on smiling now. Prompto had that effect on everyone who was ever around him. And thankfully, the rest of their meal passed in relative peace.

\---

Cor scrolled through the unfortunate litany of messages that came his way between picking up Amelia from school and finishing dinner. Several equipment requisition approvals, the new recruit onboarding schedule, a reminder to supply his availability for the Imperial Encroachment Task Force Steering Committee (he really needed an assistant to handle this shit), and a report detailing every false alarm or cat stuck in a tree his men had been sent to that day. If he told 13 year old Cor that this was the inevitable outcome of getting into the military and focusing on overachieving, well, he still would've done it but he wouldn't have been too pleased.

Amelia was washing the dishes (kids need chores to feel responsible and included!) and Prompto insisted on helping because *it looked like fun*. From the kitchen he could hear giggling, so maybe it actually was fun. He didn’t care if the plates weren’t perfectly clean or something got chipped or the counter ended up covered in soap bubbles. As long as they were both happy, and he had some time to sort through the never ending message queue, everything was alright. 

“Prompto wants to watch his My Magic Moogle tape.” Amelia said, walking into the living room with Prompto in tow behind her.

Oh Gods no not that, not that awful tape please sweet Astrals not that again

“Finished your chores?” Cor asked.

“Yeah.” “Yep!”

Cor frowned at Prompto’s soaking wet shirt.

“Go change into your pajamas and then we can watch it.” 

The little boy took off at a sprint, already at his room before Cor could think to yell a reminder not to run in the house.

Amelia was lingering near the couch. “Can…” she said very quietly, eyes on the floor. “Can we also have popcorn?”

Shit, she was actually asking to eat something? Gods yes kid please eat food, eat as much as you want, and stop skipping breakfast please!

“I don’t see why not. You remember how to make it?” he asked her. She nodded. “Go on then...But no soda! It’s too close to bedtime for soda!” A+ parenting.

Before Cor could finish replying to a message asking for his advice on jacket embroidery colors, he was flanked on either side by two kids who were way too happy about watching this cheap cash grab trash movie. Prompto waved the case in his face, asking for him to make the video player work.

“Alright, one magic moogle coming right up.”

“Geeze Dad, don’t act so excited.” Amelia said.

Amelia said Dad. Amelia called him Dad. 

Don’t acknowledge it, don’t ruin it, she probably didn’t even mean to, just keep putting the disc into the tray and pretend like that was a completely normal thing that just happened.

Sure enough, upon returning to the couch, he saw Amelia staring with a great deal of interest at the popcorn bowl, face a deep shade of red. Prompto crawled into his lap to get closer to the popcorn. The three settled in for the most obnoxious and repetitive 70 minutes of Cor’s life. Again.

Before the credits were rolling, the boy was fast asleep, face buried in Cor’s shirt. Amelia pointed at the list of names scrolling by.

“How much money do you think those assholes were paid to make this garbage?”

Cor was caught between scolding her for her language and laughing at her audacity.

“I thought you liked this?” He asked.

“Pfft. No. It’s not even a good bad movie. It’s baby trash.” She picked through the remnants of the popcorn seeds at the bottom of the bowl. “But he likes it. And I like seeing him happy.”

“Watching the garbage truck take away garbage makes him happy. As for your question, the answer is probably way too much.”

She laughed. 

“I’m putting this guy down for bed...then I think we need to have a quick talk.”

Her mood instantly dropped.

“You’re not in trouble, alright? We just...gotta get through a few things.”

“Fine.”

Cor carefully stood up and carried Prompto to his very gaudy and very bright bedroom. The bedsheets had colorful cartoon characters eating cake at a party all over them. The curtains were neon green. The dresser was covered in plush animal toys and almost every inch of wall space had a drawing taped to it. (Kids should have a say in decorating their space in order to feel a sense of ownership) You could almost make out the baby chocobo wallpaper underneath it all.

He tucked the kid into bed. Cor didn’t get these opportunities often. One or both of them were usually asleep by the time he was able to drag himself through the front door. He wanted to make more time to have nights like this. But his duty was over there first, and it always had to come first. That was the understanding he agreed to when he signed the adoption papers with a shaky hand. 

Prompto stirred and opened his eyes.

“Can I have my chokeboh?” He mumbled sleepily.

“Course you can.” Cor stood up to get the green stuffed plush chocobo for him. It was pretty old, and showing its age. Cor wondered if Asha could sew. He wasn’t paying her enough. He needed to pay her more. He handed the toy to Prompto who tucked it under his arm and snuggled his face into it. 

For a moment Cor was back in that dark, cold facility. A scared little girl was squeezing that doll close to herself, pleading not to be left behind.

Shit.

“G’night.”

“Night little guy.”

He turned the light off but left the door open a crack. Even with the nightlight, and the glow in the dark plastic stars on the ceiling, Prompto needed that little extra bit of reassuring light.

Amelia was right where he left her, knees pulled up to her chest. He sat back down next to her and sighed.

“Look…” He had no idea where to start.

“I don’t want to go to therapy.” She stated. Well, that was one place to start.

“Ami-”

“Why should I go to therapy when they’re the assholes?! I’d be perfectly fine if everyone at school just left me alone.”

“Keep your voice down, your brother’s sleeping.”

“Sorry.”

“Okay, here…” Cor got his phone back out and pulled up the page he’d found. “See that? That’s Dr. Dolores. She’s one of the psychiatrists in the Citadel. We can brief her on everything that happened, she has to keep it confidential, hell, she can’t even tell me what you say to her, ok? I don’t get to know anything.”

“I’m not crazy.”

“Kid, no one is saying you’re crazy. All kinds of people get therapy for...all kinds of problems! And Ami, I’m sorry kid, you have problems. That I can’t fix. That’s not your fault, but we have to figure out something. Just, one visit, okay? Just do that.”

Amelia shook her head, face buried against her knees.

“Come on kid, you’re killing me here.”

She sniffled. 

Great.

“What if I promise not to get into any more fights?” She rubbed at her face.

“We tried that a month ago. You’ve been in three fights since then.”

And the waterworks came on even stronger.

“What’s the problem, here? Why is this such a hard line for you?” Cor was desperate to understand. She needed this. They all needed this. “It’s just a nice lady who went to school to learn how to talk to-”

“Because I don’t want to talk about it!” She whisper yelled. She hiccuped. “She’s gonna make me talk about all that stuff and I don’t want to. I hate it! I hate remembering all of it. I don’t want to!”

Navigating the world of parenting this kid was a nightmare. Any other child would probably want the adult in their life to hold and comfort them right now. Amelia, though, was never one to ask for a hug, and usually resisted most normal forms of comfort. Even a ‘there there’ pat on the back made her recoil from the other person.

But she looked so damned pathetic. He decided to chance it and put his arm around her, holding her close to his side. She didn’t pull back.

“I know it sucks. But I don’t know how else to help. There’s so much you won’t tell me, and I can’t fix this. Kid, you’re so smart. You can be anything you want, but you need to get your shit together or you’ll end up throwing your whole life in the trash.”

“I’m not smart.”

“Bull shit, come on.”

“I’m not! I’m just really good at memorizing stuff. That doesn’t mean I’m smart.”

“What do you think Prompto would say if he heard you talking about yourself like that?”

Time to play dirty.

“Listen, Ami, if you won’t do it for yourself, and you won’t do it for me, do it for your brother. Please? He admires you so much, and he deserves to see his sister as a role model.”

She was holding onto his shirt, still crying.

“Just one visit.” He repeated.

She pulled back and wiped at her face. “You promise?”

“Just commit to one visit, and if you hate it and it’s the worst thing ever, you never have to go back.”

Amelia considered the offer for a moment.

“Can we eat at that restaurant after? The one with the really good noodles?” She asked.

“The hibachi grill? Sure kid, whatever you want.” Cor thought for a moment. “To eat. Whatever you want to eat after.”

“Ok. I’ll go.” She said quietly. “But I want to get the frozen fruit punch, not water. And we need to get the dessert Prompto likes.”

“You can have the whole damn menu, kid, whatever, as long as you go and talk to the doc.”

“Can I have a beer?”

“No, quit asking.”

\---

Amelia hated this. She hated everything about this. She hated that she had to dress like a prissy noble every time they went to the Citadel. She hated the long drive and long set of checkpoints. She hated how bright the hallways were. She hated how they smelled familiar in a way that made her sick. She hated the doctor’s leather couch and how the cushions stuck to her legs. She hated the motivational messages written in fancy cursive framed on the wall. She hated the guy sitting on the couch next to her who forced her to be here.

She didn’t hate him.

But she was angry nonetheless.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Miss Leonis.” The doctor said sweetly. She hated that name. She hated her old name more. “You can call me Dolores. We’re going to get to know each other today. First we’ll have a conversation as a group, and then it’ll be just you and me. Does that sound okay?” She asked.

No. 

Do it for the noodles.

“Yeah.”

“Great, great. So, the Marshal has told me a little bit about your unique background, and we can get into that later. First I want to know how you’re feeling today?”

Angry. Pissed off. Tired.

“Okay.”

Dolores wrote something down. It was much longer than the word ‘okay’.

“Marshal, can you tell me how you’re feeling today?” She asked.

Cor raised his eyebrows. “Oh, uh...fine. I guess?”

She wrote even more down. “Amelia, the Marshal told me he brought you here because you’ve been getting into fights with other girls at school. Is that true?”

Amelia nodded. That was a very well documented fact.

“Can you tell me what happened in the last fight you were in? Let’s see...last Friday?”

A bitch talked shit and found out.

“Bethany said something that made me angry. I told her to shut up, but she wouldn’t. So I kicked her in the leg. Then two of her friends were there, and I just fought back. I don’t know.”

Dolores was writing the whole time.

“Is Bethany in your class?” Amelia nodded. “It sounds like she was antagonizing you. Why do you think she was doing that?”

She’s a bitch.

“She doesn’t like me.” She’s going to ask why she doesn’t like you. “Because I’m a Nif.”

Cor tensed up beside her.

“And how did it make you feel when you were fighting her?” 

Fantastic. Amazing. Strong.

“Good.”

“What about the other fights, do you usually kick or punch first? Or do the other girls start the fight sometimes?”

She would never let one of those assholes get the first punch in.

“I always start it.”

More writing.

“Marshal, how does it make you feel when you learn Amelia’s been in a fight?”

He furrowed his brow and hesitated. “Scared? Yeah, scared. Exhausted. Frustrated.”

Sounds about right.

“And why do you feel scared?”

Cor exhaled in a laugh. “Cause she’s a kid! And I’m thinking, what if she’s badly injured? What if she’s suspended or kicked out this time? Is the other girl in one piece?!”

Amelia felt a small amount of pride that he would think that last part.

“And what about frustrated and exhausted, why do you feel those?”

“I feel like I’m talking more than the kid who’s the one getting therapy here.”

“Amelia will have her fair share, for now I think she needs to hear you speak.”

Cor nodded. “I’m frustrated because it took a lot to get her into that school. And, and it’s the best school in the city. A diploma from there will get her into any door she wants. And she’s got the brains for it, you should see her talk about math and science stuff, she’s...fantastic. But she goes to school and it’s like she’s majoring in making lifelong enemies. And it’s exhausting, kid. It’s exhausting to keep getting those calls from your school, when you’ve made promises to stop, and we’ve made bargains and deals, and Ami, your brother is getting older. He’s gonna start noticing. And it’s gonna freak him out that his big sister is in danger so much. I’m...yeah. That’s why.”

Ow.

“Why did it take a lot of effort to get the daughter of the Marshal into this school?” Dolores asked.

Because I’m a Nif.

“It’s...her background. We don’t have an official paper trail, there’s nothing on her before the adoption. The admissions board didn’t like that. They didn’t like....they didn’t like that she’s obviously got Nifhleim blood when it’s a school exclusively for girls of Lucian nobility.”

Right on target.

“So it sounds like the thing that made it hard to get her into this school, is what’s making it hard for her to be there as well?”

Cor crossed his arms. “Yes but...but this shouldn’t be a problem. They’re kids. They’re all kids, why do they care? They should be too young to care about these things, it’s...ridiculous.”

“Children often adopt the vocabulary and viewpoints of their parents without fully understanding the meaning. In this case, I’m sure these girls in their particular stations have heard their families discussing the war. Amelia, could you tell us exactly what some of these girls say to you? If it hurts too much you don’t have to.”

Of course it hurts, that’s why she made sure they hurt even more.

“One said I should go back to my Imp village. And another...she said I was a spy for the Empire. And that I was a disgrace to the school, and my Dad fucked a Nif whore.”

No! No, why did you say that one?! You just opened a door why did you say that?!

Cor rubbed a hand over his mouth.

“By Dad did she mean the Marshal?”

No. No no no no no.

“Yeah.”

“Did that statement make you angry for yourself, or for Cor?”

Fuck off fuck off fuck off fuck off

“I don’t know.” she shrugged her shoulders.

“That’s okay.” Dolores went right on back to writing for a long while. “Well, it sounds like this is a complicated situation. What do your teachers do when these girls say such awful things to you?”

Nothing. They’re in on it.

“Mostly it happens during breaks when they’re not around. Sometimes it’s during class and they don’t notice.”

“So you haven’t been able to ask a teacher for help?”

Hell no.

“No.”

“Amelia, do you want to keep going to this school?”

No. Fuck no. 

“I don’t know.”

“Well, changing to a different school won’t guarantee an end to the bullying. But it could improve the situation. And there is always the option of homeschooling.” Dolores suggested.

Yes! Yes that one!

“No way, absolutely not, she’s isolated enough as it is. I won’t put her in a position to go full hermit.” 

She really hated him right now.

“What if...we had a meeting with Amelia’s teachers?”

“We?” Cor asked.

“You and myself as well, Marshal.” Dolores said it very matter of factly.

What.

“We could let them know that other girls are antagonizing her purposefully, making inappropriate statements and insulting her. That they should be watching more carefully for these sort of events. And, it might do a little bit of good to remind the adults there whose daughter Amelia is.”

Oh. My Gods.

Cor laughed. “You know what, might as well. Hell, it cannot possibly make it any worse.”

It absolutely could.

“We’ll talk later about scheduling that. In the meantime, I want to work on some coping skills that Amelia can rely on instead of resorting to violence to feel better. Amelia, have you ever tried meditation before?”

She shook her head. She knew what it was in theory, though.

“Ok, we’re going to try a very basic one right now and see how it feels…”

It felt...weird. It involved a lot of slow breathing, tensing muscles and relaxing them one at a time, concentrating on breathing, counting her breathing, it had a lot to do with breathing. And at the end of it she felt...light? Not bad. Better.

“How do you feel now Amelia?”

Okay.

“Good.”

Dolores smiled and wrote something down.

“Marshal, if you don’t mind, I’d like to start my one on one time with Amelia now.”

Cor nodded and patted her on the shoulder.

“I’ll go get your brother. Meet you in the hallway.” Then he got up, and he left.

Amelia felt scared now, being alone with the doctor. That was dumb, she was eight. She shouldn’t be scared of anything. 

“I was hoping we could start with your living situation before you met Cor.”

Amelia’s stomach dropped. It was exactly what she didn’t want to talk about.

“You were six years old?”

Amelia nodded.

“So it’s been two years. There’s probably some things you don’t remember, and that’s ok. You were living in a research facility, is that correct?” Amelia nodded. “How long were you living there before Cor showed up?”

“...almost a year.”

“You didn’t have a home or someplace outside of the facility where you lived?”

“No.”

“Can you tell me where you slept?”

She didn’t want to talk about this.

“I had a room. There was a bed in it. And a table. Same as the scientists had.”

“Did you feel safe in that room?” 

Amelia nodded. It was the only place she had felt safe sometimes.

“And your Father lived there too?”

Amelia felt her throat clench and nodded.

“Did you get to see him often?”

She shook her head. “He was busy. I was allowed to have dinner with him once a week.”

“Did you like going to those dinners?”

Amelia thought about it, pricking at a memory long buried.

“Sometimes. There were other adults there too. And they talked to me.”

“What did you talk about?”

“Stuff I’d learned. I read a lot, mostly. Used the terminal to learn more stuff. They said I was precocious.” Someone in particular praised her often. Who was that? She couldn’t place the person. But it was always the same person.

Dolores smiled. “I’m sure that attention felt very good. Did you have any friends your own age there?”

Amelia shook her head.

“So it was just you and the staff?”

“And the-” Amelia quickly shut her mouth. How much did she know? What was okay to say? 

“...the clones?” Dolores asked quietly.

She knew. Amelia nodded.

“Sounds like you were rather isolated back there?”

Amelia nodded.

“Mmhmm. Let’s go back to your father for a moment.”

Amelia wished she wouldn’t.

“Do you think Verstael was a good fath-”

“No.”

It was the easiest question she’d answered all day.

“Can you tell me what made him a bad father?”

Where to fucking start, lady?

“He didn’t like me. He didn’t want me. The government said he had to take care of me after mom died. He didn’t like her either. No one else in the family wanted to keep me. He hated them too. He didn’t like anything but his work.”

Dolores spent a very long time writing.

“Cor said you’re very good in school with science?”

Amelia knew where this was headed.

“It’s not because of him.” She snapped, and felt bad immediately. Dolores was nice. She took a deep breath. 

“Mmhmm. Sounds like that might be a sore spot for you. How did you feel when Cor took you and your brother out of the facility?”

Amelia suddenly felt a strong urge to cry.

“Good. Better. Like everything was going to be better.”

“Did you trust Cor then?”

Amelia had to think about it. She wasn’t sure. She knew he was from somewhere else, and he promised her brother was going to be safe there. She desperately wanted to be safe too. She must have trusted him enough to believe his promises, at least.

“Yeah.”

“That’s great to hear. We’re almost out of time, Amelia, but I have one last thing I wanted to touch on. Do you think of Cor as a father to you now?”

Amelia felt her face start burning. She remembered that stupid moment a week ago when she was so caught up in the good mood and how happy Prompto was that she slipped and called Cor ‘Dad’. He hadn’t seemed to notice, thank the Gods. But it felt weird and forced and kind of warm and she was relieved no one said anything about it again until right now. She didn’t need a Dad. She didn’t want one.

“You can’t tell him anything I say to you?” She checked again.

Dolores smiled. “Unless you want me to tell him something, this is all between us and us alone.”

Ok. Ok, she could be honest about this. Maybe getting some of these stupid feelings out could help her get through them and hell, Dolores was being paid to listen and puzzle out this stuff so what harm was there in being honest and just saying the truth, Amelia, just do it, just say the truth-

“I think...he does all the things a father is supposed to do.” She answered very carefully.

“Do you think he’s better at it than Verstael was?”

She thought of the movie nights, the Solstice, the dinners together, the talks, even the angry talks, the walks in the park, the time they went to a movie theater, the times she fell asleep on the couch and woke up tucked tightly into her own bed. She felt like she might cry. That was stupid.

“Yeah. A lot better.”

“Do you think Cor is a good Dad?”

Amelia started crying. This was stupid. There was nothing to cry about.

Dolores sat next to her on the couch and handed her a box of tissues.

“You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to. You can have a few moments to feel your feelings before we wrap up.”

Dolores was too nice. It was getting annoying.

Amelia did the breathing trick Dolores taught her. It helped. She stopped crying. Dolores told her when they would meet next. She didn’t feel like arguing. 

Dolores walked her out to the hallway that smelled like the facility. Cor was there, waiting, holding her little brother with one arm. Prompto smiled and waved to her. Cor looked at Amelia’s face and frowned.

“Everything okay?” He asked her, then looked at Dolores. Dolores smiled and nodded her head.

“Amelia had a lot of feelings to feel.”

“Okay. Good. That’s good. You ready for those noodles, kid?”

Amelia nodded.

“See you soon, Amelia.” Dolores said gently.

Amelia nodded.

“Did you, um, have fun Ami?” Prompto asked. Gods, he was a perfect angel.

“Yeah. Probably not as much fun as you though.” She took his outstretched hand as the three made their way to the garage.

“Yeah, I got to play with Knock!” He chirped.

“Knock?” Amelia asked, wondering if her brother had reached the imaginary friend stage.

“Noctis.” Cor clarified.

“Wow, look at you, rubbing elbows with royalty!” Amelia gently tickled Prompto’s elbow. He giggled. It was her favorite sound.

\---

That night Amelia dreamed. She was back in the facility, but she was older now. She was gripping that green plush chocobo tightly. Greenie. She’d named it Greenie. What a baby name.

She was in a hallway, and it was dark. She was wearing her black and silver school uniform. She knew this hallway. Her room was nearby. Which door was it? She could hear footsteps. Someone was watching her, waiting for her to move. The figure was tall. It just stood there, watching her.

The wall lit up, covered in bright silver letters and symbols. She’d seen these before. She couldn’t remember when or where. They meant something, but she didn’t understand it. Pieces were missing, too many to make sense.

That figure was stepping towards her now.

Amelia had to move. She had to get away.

“Such a smart little thing you are.”

She knew this voice. She couldn’t move.

“We’ll all have to keep our eyes on you, won’t we?”

When had she heard that before?

The lights came on. She was sitting at a table. There was a plate of noodles in front of her, but they were moving. She felt sick. At the head of the table was him, her Father. He was rambling on about everything and nothing. He didn’t notice she had left, and he didn’t notice she was back. There were so many people sitting around this table, all eyes on her Father. All watching him intently. 

Except for one person.

The man sitting between her and her Father.

“You have such a bright future ahead of you.”

Uncle Ardyn tapped her on the forehead. This happened before.

“Kid.” Cor. It was Cor. She turned to find him. She scanned every face, every chair, but she couldn’t find him. She could feel Uncle Ardyn’s hand on her shoulder. It was keeping her in her seat. “Ami, come on. It’s time to go.”

The door, Cor was standing in the doorway. He was holding the baby. The baby was safe. Amelia reached out for him. He didn’t come for her. She tried to scream for him but nothing came out. She mouthed the word ‘please’. He was gripping her shoulder even tighter. 

“Listen kid, are you coming with me or not?”

“Remember Delphia…” Uncle Ardyn whispered to her, “it will be our little secret.”

His eyes turned black, they looked like they were melting. Her Father was still talking, nobody noticed what was happening. 

She tried to scream again. If she kept trying maybe Cor would hear her and she could go. She could go with him, and her brother, she would be good, and quiet, and she wouldn’t get into anymore fights. She screamed harder and harder and harder---

“Kid!”

Amelia opened her eyes. It was still dark. She was in her bed. She was in the right bed, the one with the fluffy blue blanket and the nice pillows. Her throat burned, everything was wet. A cool hand was on her forehead.

“You’re alright. Just a nightmare. Ok?”

She was home. She was in the right room, the right house. Cor was here. She was safe.

“I’m ok.” She sniffled. She was crying in her sleep, like a baby.

“You were screaming loud enough to wake the whole neighborhood. You wanna talk about it?”

No. No. No.

“I was...back…” she whispered.

“Back...there?”

Amelia nodded. They both knew what she meant.

“Well that’s how you know it was a dream, you’re never going back there. Ever.”

“Is Ami okay?” Prompto shuffled in, rubbing his eyes.

“Everything’s ok, little man, Ami just had a bad dream.”

“Did Dad save you?”

Amelia's half asleep brain answered, “Yeah.”

“You were yelling Dad Dad Dad!” Prompto giggled.

Cor coughed. Amelia felt too tired to be embarrassed or angry.

“Back to bed with you, now.” Cor shooed Prompto away.

“Ok, g’night!”

Prompto left as quickly as he came. There was a quiet moment between Cor and Amelia.

“Alright. Think you can go back to sleep?”

Amelia shook her head.

“Yeah, me neither. Wanna watch a bad movie and make fun of it?”

She did. 

Amelia fell back asleep halfway through, and woke up the next morning tucked tightly in her own bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can find me:
> 
> @pandalots on twitter
> 
> bramblepeltao3.tumblr.com


	4. Prompto is Four Years Old, and He is Going to Punch the Moon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes you gotta kick back with your friend and your son and watch your daughter hit other girls with a long stick.

It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon in the big city of Insomnia. The sky was blue, the birds were chirping, the grass was green, and Prompto was face down in the sandbox. 

“No, just wait, he has to learn to pick himself back up this time.” Amelia said, grabbing Cor’s shirt and pulling him back towards the park bench. 

“I don’t understand how you can sit there and just watch this.” Cor grumbled.

“Believe me I want to run over there and grab him but I have this thing called impulse control, see? He’s picking himself up. Not even crying this time, he’s fine.” Amelia said before returning to her book.

“He’s uh...he’s really just not gonna wipe any of that off his face, is he?” Cor frowned, watching the little blonde boy run around the playground covered in sand.

“One thing at a time.” Amelia whispered while turning the pages in her book. Ancient Lucian History, a book that was so old it was itself also ancient Lucian history. It was also written in old Lucian, a dead dialect. It was dull, and convoluted, and full of large amounts of misinformation or just a general misunderstanding of how everything worked because the scientific method hadn’t been invented yet.

It was the only thing Amelia had asked for for her birthday. The fact that she could even think of something she actually wanted meant Cor had to get it.

She tapped on the page she was reading, frowning and muttering incomprehensible things to herself. Cor wished he could spend just five minutes in her brain to understand her a little bit. He could just imagine it to be a very old library that was also on fire. For some reason that just seemed correct.

He kept his focus instead on the boy, who seemed to delight in the act of running. Just running, with no real goal in mind. Or any other kids joining in. He was just pure energy in the form of an awkward little kid. Covered in dirt. And once again flat on his face. He’d probably fall less if he didn’t run. But it seemed he would not discontinue that form of physical activity anytime soon.

There were a lot of kids here, of varying ages too. All over the whole park were kids in groups, or twos. Playing sports, make believe, sand castles, screeching and playing tag. And there was Prompto, running in circles alone. And there was Amelia, sitting on a bench and reading a book no one except 80 year old college professors cared about.

He noticed a group of young girls, probably about Amelia’s age, hanging out next to a tree, talking and giggling. For a brief second he had the idea that he should encourage her to get up and go introduce herself. A very brief, very stupid second. But then he remembered something. Something that was said to him a week ago by a very nice older woman he paid to actually be in Amelia’s head for him.

“Hey…” He started, trying to broach this topic carefully.

“What, is he eating grass again?”

“Remember what your therapist said last week?”

“Punching walls is the opposite of self care.”

“No, I mean the thing about getting more exercise and socializing?”

“...you’re not gonna make me go like...mingle are you?”

“No, it just got me thinking, is there any sort of, I don’t know, team sport or-”

“Isignedupforfencing.”

Cor blinked. “Say that again?”

“I kind of signed up for fencing. At school. Because I had to pick an activity for the year.” Amelia seemed somewhat embarrassed by this fact. 

“Wow, Ami that’s...great. That’s great!” Cor said with relief. An activity! That was social! She’d meet people! And learn a new skill! 

“It was that or chess, and chess involved too much talking. At least in fencing I get to stab the other girls.”

Of course. Of course that was why.

Prompto came sprinting up to the park bench, palms out and in the air.

...scratched up and bleeding. Even though he was still giggling and smiling.

“I fell down!” He yelled.

“Yeah dude like ten times, we saw.” Amelia closed her book to get a better look at his hands.

Cor scooped him up and motioned towards Amelia. “It’s almost time for his nap anyway. Alright, let’s get this mess cleaned up and-” His phone started to ring. His work phone that he didn’t mean to bring but somehow did anyway was ringing. He glanced at the caller ID to see if this was something he could ignore.

It wasn’t. It was Clarus. On a Saturday. 

“This is Cor.” He said, juggling the phone in one hand and the four year old kid in the other. He had taken to answering his phone in such a manner since the day Prompto decided to answer for him and babbled to a Kingsglaive general for three minutes.

“There’s a situation...nothing life or death, but we need you here. Preferably before the council convenes, can you be here in half an hour?”

Shit. No, he couldn’t. Asha was visiting family this weekend, and he didn’t have a backup. He didn’t think he’d need a backup!

“I know I said I’d never pull this card...but look, the kids-”

“Bring them. We have accommodations on site, you really should be using them more often.”

Yes, there was indeed trained staff there specifically to watch after the children of politicians and other prominent figures during situations exactly like this. One look at Amelia’s disapproving face reminded him precisely why he hadn’t brought his kids to work. She would insist that she could handle things just fine, and truthfully, she probably could! But there were laws against leaving kids under thirteen years of age home alone, with no exceptions for precocious and obsessively overachieving nine year olds.

“Point made, we’re on our way.” Cor said, turning off his phone and mentally preparing for the whinefest about to commence.

“What do you mean by ‘we’?” She asked.

“We are going to the Citadel. All three of us, right now.” You are the adult in this situation, this does not have to be an argument.

“Can’t you just drop us off? It’s on the way anyway…”

“No, you can’t be home alone.”

“I can handle taking care of him!”

“I know you can. Come on, in the car.”

“We don’t need royal daycare, Cor, seriously!”

“You can’t tell me you don't want to spend some time in the Citadel library.”

Amelia faltered. Bingo.

“Okay, fine. You win.” She grumbled while climbing into the back, next to Prompto’s car seat. 

Cor did not get many wins when it came to this kid, much less ones where she admitted it. He would take it where he could get it. He strapped Prompto into his seat, hands and face now mostly clean thanks to the hypoallergenic and biodegradable wipes that were kept in the trunk. The door closed, the key turned, the engine came to life, and they were off to what had somehow turned into ‘bring your kids to work’ day.

\---

Prompto was having the best day ever. First Dad made waffles, and they had chocolate in them. Then he got to wear his favorite green shirt. And then! He got to go for a car ride. And if that wasn’t already awesome enough, he then got to go to the park and play ‘chocobo race’! 

And it just didn’t end! He got to go back in the car, and then Dad bought them lunch and it was chicatrice nuggets and there was a toy inside the box! And then his big sister gave him her toy too! So now he had a little firefighter man and a little fairy woman and they were going to put out all the fires in the city and save everyone. Ami even put her book down so she could listen to him tell her the whole story. How was there still more day left, this had already been perfect!

But then, Dad drove the car into the big special parking lot that was in the place where he got to see Noct! Was he going to see Noct? He needed to ask.

“Dad! Are...are, um, are we...going to see Noc?” He put on his best ‘I am very cute, you must do what I want’ face. He really really wanted to see his friend Noct.

“We’ll see, buddy. We need to find out what Dad’s boss wants first.” Dad said, while getting out of the car and walking over to his side.

“How long exactly is this going to take?” Ami asked after Dad pulled the door open.

Prompto was so excited he was bouncing in his seat.

“No idea, hopefully not too long. Come on, the sooner we get in there the sooner we can go home. You sleepy, Prom?” Dad asked. He had, in fact, yawned but that didn’t mean anything. If he took a nap then he’d be asleep and he wouldn’t see Noct so he couldn’t take a nap yet.

“No!” He said, hoping to really get that point across.

The walk from the parking lot into the big house was always exciting. Well, it was more of a ride for Prompto as he was held securely by his Dad. Dad would show everyone his special card that had his picture on it and everyone would say “Welcome, Sir!” because his Dad was very important, like a firefighter. And then they’d go down the hall with the very tall ceiling and all the pictures and everything on the wall was shiny and pretty.

Two people in the hallway stood up very tall and put their hand to their head.

A very tall lady spoke first. “Sir, if you’ll follow me, his Majesty is waiting in-” 

“Yeah, um, where can these two…?” Dad asked.

“Sir, his Majesty said to bring your kids.” The other person said.

Ami made a sound like she was upset. She made those sounds a lot.

They turned a corner and went into a room and there were Dad’s friends, and when Dad saw his friends he got to see Noct so maybe he really was going to see Noct!

“Marshal Leonis, your Majesty.” The tall lady said.

“Hi Uncle Reggie.” Ami said. The tall lady looked very surprised that she’d said that. “Hi Uncle Clarus.” 

“Hello, Miss Amelia. You’ve grown quite a bit since we last saw you. And Prompto, look how big you’ve gotten!” That was Noct’s Dad, the man with lots of hair all over his face. He was very nice, and he was also very important. Prompto found himself unable to contain his excitement.

“Is Noc here?” He asked. Dad’s friends laughed. 

“He is, indeed! I told him you were coming to visit. Monica, do you mind showing our younger guests to the playroom?” Noct’s Dad asked the tall lady.

Ami made a weird face and looked at Dad.

“I sort of promised her she could see the library…” Dad said.

“A regular Belle, are you? That’s no trouble, the library is very close to the playroom. Monica?”

Prompto wondered what bells had to do with Ami. Dad handed him over to the Monica lady.

“Be good, play nice. I’ll pick you up when work is done.” Dad put his hand on Prompto’s head and messed up his hair. Ami was fidgeting. “Just...please stay out of trouble?” Dad said to her. Ami rolled her eyes and said she would. 

“Bye Daddy!” He waved. Dad looked very happy, but then very sad. He wondered if work made him sad. His work made Prompto sad, because work meant Dad wasn’t home with him and Ami. But Prompto wasn’t sad right now because Noct’s Dad said he could see Noct! They walked for a little bit longer and went around a couple of corners but then they opened two very tall doors and went into a bright room that was very big with very big windows and a very nice lady and Noct!

“Noc!” Prompto yelled, waving his hand. The Monica lady put him down so he could run fast as a chocobo over to his friend. Noct stood up from the carpet and visibly braced himself as Prompto dove into a hug.

“Hi, Prompto!” Noct hugged him back. “I’m doing a puzzle, do you wanna help?” Noct pointed at the weirdly shaped pieces of wood on the floor. There were a whole lot of them, and some of them that were the same color were put together.

“Okay! But um...I don’t know how.” It didn’t look too hard, but most things didn’t look hard until someone explained it to him, then it was clear that most things were actually very hard.

“That’s okay, I can show you.” Noct smiled, which made Prompto smile, and they both got on the floor. Prompto was ready to learn how to play puzzle until he remembered he forgot something.

“Bye Ami! Have fun with the books!” He waved at his sister, who smiled and waved back at him. He loved his sister. He wished she wasn’t upset all the time. He wondered if reading all those books made her upset. Maybe he could learn to read and he could help her read books and then she’d have more time to play fun stuff. Like chocobo race.

“So all of these pieces fit together, you just have to find which ones fit. And then you put them all together and at the end they make a picture.” Noct explained the rules.

Oh. That was easy! “Okay!” 

And as they tried to put the pieces together they chatted and caught up on important business, like who had the better breakfast (Prompto) and who saw the best cartoon lately (Noct). All the while the very nice lady who was always around Noct would smile, nod, laugh, and occasionally remind Noct to ‘mind his manners”. Which was silly, because it was just them, and Noct didn’t have to do any special prince things around him.

Oh yeah, his best friend in the whole entire star was a prince. Like in the cartoons but for real. That was cool, but it also didn’t matter at all. Both of their Dads were important and both of them liked popcorn, cartoons, and apple juice. And now both of them also liked playing puzzle, and really, what else was there in life? His sister, but Noct didn’t have one of those. Ami could be his sister too. She said Noct was ‘chill’, which Prompto assumed meant good. So then that settled that, they were both the same and best friends.

“What is it?” Prompto asked, looking at their sprawling masterpiece now complete on the floor.

“Umm...that’s a cat. And that’s a puppy.” He pointed at the black cat and the yellow puppy.

Oh, he was looking at it upside down. Now it made sense. 

“And they’re taking a nap together,” The nice lady said, “just like the two of you should be doing now.”

Noct yawned, which made Prompto yawn. How long had it been? Prompto thought Dad would be back by now. But maybe he was still working. That was okay, because he got to take a nap with Noct now. And maybe they could eat dinner together and watch a cartoon before Dad was done and then this really would be just the completely best perfect day ever.

\---

Amelia was having the worst day ever. This library was big. Too big. She had no idea where to even start looking for what she needed. She would have liked to have a little more time to prepare for this visit, and had actually hoped to spend the rest of the day reading the book she already had. She was sure she’d end up with more research questions by the time she was done with it, but she’d have to get started on the ones she already had while she was here.

Normally, a book of this size, she would’ve finished reading days ago. Like, the day she got it. But the older dialect made it a bit more difficult to parse, so for once she took her time with each page, making sure what she remembered was what the book actually wanted her to know. Now that was biting her in the ass.

She walked through the section the royal librarian identified as ‘history and culture’, scanning through the titles looking for some hint of which book she could start with.

She could read them all, if she wanted to. Who knew how long they’d be here, and she could fly right through most of these in under an hour each. But that would mean more information taking up permanent residence in her brain, and really, she was getting sick of that. So now she wanted to find only what she needed, and what she needed was to figure out what the glowing symbols she could see when she slept meant.

She knew she didn’t make it up, even though she couldn’t remember exactly what or where they were, or even when she saw them. Which was a distressing thought; she remembered everything. The fact that she couldn’t remember this one thing was confusing and frustrating and drove her to wanting even more to figure it out.

In the book she’d started reading, she’d found a few of them. They were in a single picture, which was an artist’s rendering of a scene that was said to be a legend. In the picture a figure had his arms outstretched, looking towards the symbols which seemed to dance in front of him.

The legend itself made no sense. It told of an old Lucian King who challenged the Gods to come to Eos and live as mortals. The Astrals laughed at his demand, and having felt insulted, cut him off from his powers, forcing him to abdicate the throne to his much more pious sister. There was no explanation for the picture. It was, according to her book, an ancient legend passed down to warn children against challenging authority. Which had to be the stupidest fucking thing she had ever read. 

And she’d read some pretty stupid baby books to her brother, so that was saying a lot.

She knew that a good deal of ancient history in Lucis had been lost, and many of the old monarchs were remembered only by their titles such as The Mystic or The Clever. Any nuance to who they were as people was gone. So maybe it was possible that there was indeed a King who pissed off the Gods, and somewhere along the way the very real story morphed into a myth.

Maybe if she found that much, she’d find what those damn stupid symbols were and she could move on with her life.

She ran her finger over each book’s spine, feeling increasingly frustrated (remember what Dolores said, anger interrupts focus, just breathe) until she stopped on one that looked promising.

‘Monarchs of Old Lucis: The First 500 Years. What We Know, and What We’ve Lost.’

Okay, it was a start. She pulled the book down and scanned the table of contents. And very quickly she found what she was looking for: a King with a short lived reign followed by a Queen. Page 74. She quickly flipped over there and began reading. They didn’t know his name anymore, but he was remembered as The Heretic. Which was pretty sweet, as far as these old monarch names went. What they knew for certain was that he began his rule late in life after the death of his Father, did something that offended the Gods and lost his divine birthright as a result. It wasn’t much, but it lined up with the ancient myth.

She turned to the next section and, surprisingly, the old historians knew a whole lot about his sister. Queen Aurora Lucis Caelum, remembered as The Builder. Her reign began a new dawn of infrastructure, public works, and scientific discovery. She married almost immediately, and gave birth to three sons and two daughters.

Those years were most remarkable for being in a time of relative peace. In fact, when it came time to build her tomb, she had no favored weapon to grace her stone effigy as was the tradition. Instead, at her eldest son’s insistence, her carving held a mallet. A symbol of her legacy for destroying the old to build up the new.

What struck her the most was that so little was known about one sibling, while the other seemed to have a highly detailed biography. But they existed during the same time period. She wondered who went to such lengths to erase him: his sister, his nephew, or the Gods he offended? Maybe the entire country itself?

She turned the page, hoping for more information, and felt her heart stop. It was the symbols. Just a few of them. A photograph (so somewhat modern?) of a crumbling building. The footnote identified it as the ruins of one of the projects the Queen herself had led the construction for. Based on buried artifacts, archaeologists assumed it was a forum of some kind. The symbols were etched deeply into the wall.

So they were real, they existed in the real world at least up until, according to the footnote, 70 years ago. But she’d never seen this building before now. And it only contained some of them. This wasn’t adding up.

The myth was real. The Heretic had something to do with those symbols, as did the Gods apparently. And somehow she’d seen these herself enough for them to float around in her dreams and poke at something that felt cold and distant in the back of her head.

A soft voice echoed in her mind, “And there’s so many more.” Her head hurt. “You’ll find all of them soon.” She could feel her pulse pounding in her ears. 

She needed to stop. Right now. She closed the book, and replaced it where she found it. Her head hurt so much she thought she would start crying. 

“Are you finding what you were looking for?” The librarian asked. She forgot she wasn’t alone here. The older man, who seemingly did not have much at all to do, was looking expectantly at her.

What was she looking for? She’d been looking for something. She’d been trying to find something but then she got a headache and couldn’t remember. How strange that she couldn’t remember something. How nice. Maybe it was…

“Fencing?” She asked. Yeah. Fencing. She signed up for that. Dolores said she should get more exercise and Cor was concerned about her introversion and her counselor said she had to join an activity this year so she picked the thing that let her jab at other people with a long pointy stick. Everyone’s happy.

“Oh, yes we have some books on the history of the sport, as well as tactical guides and biographies on some of the greatest fencers…” The man rambled on, which was fine. It was easy enough to ‘uh huh’ at him and let her brain rest. She’d go through some of those tactical guides and maybe then Cor would be done and they could go home. She felt like she needed a nap. A very long nap.

\---

Twelve weeks had passed since the incident with the Imperial spy. Twelve weeks since he discovered Regis and Clarus made sure he brought the kids with him to ensure their safety. Twelve weeks of not being able to sleep, wondering if there were more of them walking around. It had been a very long twelve weeks. And he was incredibly grateful for the distraction he’d been permitted today.

But Cor was beginning to regret coming so early. It was Amelia’s first fencing match, well, the first one he was made aware of and able to make it to. He wanted to be sure they made it so he got there early to get a good spot. An hour early. Only to find Amelia’s bout was last on the board. Which would’ve been fine, he could’ve taken care of the endless list of emails while he waited. 

Except he brought a four year old with him. A four year old with seemingly boundless energy and a constant need to just run. All. The. Time. He couldn’t let the kid just run around the arena, as much as both of them wanted him to. So Cor invented a new game for Prompto: punch the moon. 

Cor held his hand up in the air, and Prompto had to try and jump high enough to punch it. If he succeeded, he’d pull his arm up higher. He figured eventually, he’d get tired out enough to sit still by the time the game was going to start. 

That outcome was looking less and less likely.

“Interesting technique, maybe we should drill the new recruits with it.”

Cor was wrenched out of his focus at the sound of the Shield’s voice. “Oh, Clarus, hey. Wasn’t expecting to see you here…” And truly he wasn’t, this was a game between two teams of little girls. He was sure Clarus had one boy, and one unknown on the way. On the other side of him, Prompto had not broken his jumping rhythm even for a moment.

“I happen to be quite the fan of professional fencing, did you know it has its roots in military training?” Clarus asked.

“Uh, no, actually I didn’t. You do know this isn’t a professional match, right? This is just awkward kids jabbing at each other.” Rich awkward kids jabbing at each other.

Clarus took the empty seat next to him. “You should really start looking into fencing fan communities, if you did you’d understand that this game is more than just kids playing with foils.”

Prompto was still punching the moon.

“Alright, mind enlightening me then?”

Clarus cracked a smile at Prompto’s dedication before continuing. “Women’s fencing is still a relatively new field of sport in Insomnia. And the few competitors that do make it are fierce and dedicated, they know what their success represents. These young ladies are the future of women’s fencing. Do you see that man over there?” Clarus pointed to a well dressed man holding a pen and paper. “That’s a scout. As is that woman, and that one over there as well. This match is between two equally prominent schools, with two very talented teams. And both of their coaches have an impressive background. This event is promising to showcase the best skills of their generation and reveal the professional female champions of tomorrow.”

Huh. Apparently fencing was a lot more popular than Cor thought. Hell, he hadn’t even known it could be a team sport before Amelia joined.

“But also,” Clarus leaned over, “I found it most interesting that your little girl is being considered the wildcard today.”

His little girl.

“Is that...is that good or bad?” Neither would surprise him.

“Amelia is the youngest competitor, she’s smaller than the others which makes her a challenge to hit. But she also lacks the speed and experience of the others. Most importantly though, Amelia has a reputation for...theatrics.”

Oh. Oh of course.

“If she’s such an unknown in this match, why play her last then?” Cor asked, raising his hand up further.

“Oh, the starting lineups are made at random, and this is only the first of three rounds. Each girl will play three matches, one against each member of the other team. Until one player gets five hits, or time runs out. The team who scores 45 hits wins.”

Amelia was good at hitting other kids. Unfortunately. She was a shoe in for this game.

“So, speaking of kids hitting things, how’s Gladiolus? You think he’ll be ready to start the real work soon?”

Clarus’ kid was seven, nearly eight years old. One day that kid would be Noctis’ sworn shield, same as his Father for Noct’s Father. And that meant years of training and discipline that Cor was expected to be part of.

Clarus nodded. “He’s itching to get started. I’m so proud of his enthusiasm for his role. Perhaps we could take some time today to work out some of the details?”

“Yeah, I think it’s time to get started. You worn out, Prom?” Cor asked the boy, who was still jumping, but had a noticeable lag now between hops.

“No!” He squeaked without breaking his stride. 

Clarus and Cor began the process of looking over their schedules, trying to fit this here and that there, until finally the (much larger than an hour ago) crowd started breaking into applause. The teams were filing into the arena. 

“Look, Dad! Ami! HI AMI!” Prompto waved vigorously at his sister who could somehow across that distance hear him, and waved back. 

The games began, and Cor could tell immediately why Clarus would be interested in this sport at a professional level. The action was quick, some bouts lasting mere seconds. It could be difficult to tell who hit who, and where, and that’s where the electronics came in. Clarus explained that each of the competitors full body suits included an electronic system that could tell when the charged tip of the foil hit the right place. The player’s helmet lit up when they completed a hit, letting everyone know precisely who scored.

These girls were nimble, parrying and striking with the finesse of glaive men three times their age. The first bout ended with Amelia’s team scoring three points, the other girls took five. Those scores carried over, so when the next two girls began their turn it was a matter of who would reach ten points first. If the girl on Amelia’s team could score seven points before time ran out, they’d take that round.

This sport was incredibly complicated for something that seemed to last three minutes.

Time ran out for this round, both girls seemed equally matched when it came to evasive maneuvering. The score was seven to eight, with Amelia’s team taking the lead. 

Amelia was next. Cor felt a surge of anxiety, thinking about her small form getting stabbed at by those long pointy swords. Thinking about how she was going to react when it happened. 

Theatrics.

The two girls met in the middle of the strip, tapping their foils against the other’s suit seemingly to ensure the electronics were functioning. They then each walked to the six foot marker on either side, stood at attention and raised their foils vertically with the grip at eye level. They then turned to the referee and did the same thing. Then they put their helmets on.

“A mandatory show of sportsmanship, and deference to the ref.” Clarus explained.

“See that? That’s your sister right there. When her helmet lights up in green that means she got a point.” Cor leaned down, trying to explain to Prompto how it worked.

“Hi Ami!” Prompto yelled and waved again.

“She’s got that helmet on buddy, don’t think she can- oh okay, guess she can hear you.” Amelia had made a small gesture in their direction. 

“En garde!” The ref yelled. Both girls fell into the starting stance, right leg stretched out in front, left leg bent at an angle behind them. ”Prêtes? Allez!”

Amelia was the first to move, lunging forward into an attack. Her opponent retreated to the first warning line, parrying at every strike until finally, the other girl successfully counter attacked and her helmet lit up in red. Amelia, obviously displeased, was showing it way too much in her body language. 

They reset, the referee yelled, and again Amelia was the aggressor. And again, she focused more on offense than her own defense and her opponent’s helmet lit up again. Amelia retreated to her starting line, rubbing at the spot where she’d been hit.

“Wait, is this painful? Are they actually hurting each other?” Cor whispered to Clarus, not wanting to freak out Prompto.

“Oh yes, it can hurt a bit. But every contact sport comes with a bit of bruising.”

Well, it was a step up from the contact sport she used to favor.

The same pattern repeated. She lunged first, her attacks were parried, the opponent scored. This time, she ripped off her helmet in anger as she walked back to the line. 

She was falling into her usual bad habits, stubbornly assuming she had it right the first time and refusing to reconsider. Come on kid, get it under control. You let yourself keep getting angry, you’re not going to focus on the right thing.

As if she could hear his thoughts, she briefly glanced over to their section before rubbing at her face with her arm and putting her helmet back on.

This time, when the ref made the call to start, she stayed put and let her opponent come to her. At first she held her ground, but quickly started to step backwards, to the first warning line, then the second. She was out of room. Her movements were getting frantic. She was showing her frustration.  
Finally, Amelia crouched down into a low lunge and jabbed upwards, making contact with the other girl’s chest. Her helmet lit up in green and Cor, without even thinking, jumped up from his seat, fist in the air.

“Yeah! That’s my girl!” He screamed, before realizing how inappropriate his outburst was. 

“Yeah Ami!! Yay!” Prompto yelled too, spotlighting his interruption. Clarus was laughing quietly beside him.

Amelia turned towards them, helmet still on, and put both hands out at her side as if to say, “What the hell are you doing?” 

Cor wondered which of them was more embarrassed. 

But when she returned to her starting position, she stood a little bit taller and held her foil with a little more confidence.

The game continued on, both teams moving with finesse and speed. Amelia’s “theatrics” showed itself when she scored a point by hopping into the air and flicking her foil down, hitting the other girl on the shoulder. Not exactly a standard move, but a legal one nonetheless.

But despite her best efforts, she still made mistakes, and at the end of it all her team still lost. It was a close game, as Clarus said they were all very skilled players. After the ending solutes and show of sportsmanship, each team left to their respective locker rooms.

“Alright, games over. Time to get your sister, hopefully she’s not too mopey. We’re going out for dinner, care to join us?” Cor asked his friend.

“As much as I’d like to finally see the Leonis family dinner experience for myself,” Cor made a mental note not to vent to Clarus nearly as much, “I have a pregnant wife at home I promised to be with tonight. Tell your little girl she did fantastic as a beginner. We’ll connect about Gladio’s training tomorrow.” Clarus waved as they went their separate ways.

\---

Amelia was the first one out the door to the ‘pick up your kid’ area. She’d changed quickly and left as soon as her coach had finished her ‘we all did our best’ speech.

No, they had all done their best. She had sucked. She needed to work on her speed, and her agility needed some training up as well. If she wasn’t the one carrying the team, then she wasn’t nearly good enough. As it stood she felt more like a sixty pound weight sinking them down. She wondered if even one more person had signed up, would she be the emergency substitute instead of an active teammate? 

Cor and Prompto weren’t here yet. She thought about how they had cheered her on. How nice that felt, even if she did do poorly. Even if it wasn’t considered good form to cheer like that for individual plays. It was nice that he cared.

There were a few of the moms crowded around, waiting for their kids obviously. But some of them were looking very strangely at her. She did not have the patience for this right now.

“Uh, can I help you?” She asked.

“You were such a little firecracker out there!” A woman with long hair said.

“So impressive, I bet your Father is so proud!” An older woman said.

“Okay?” She didn’t ask for input from these strangers.

“So...where’s your Mommy? Does she and your Daddy live together?”

Oh. Oh, ew.

“My Mom’s dead.” Amelia said without a single hint of emotion. 

“Oh, I’m so sorry sweetie. I bet you miss her so much...Does your Daddy have a special lady in his life?” That was a third woman wearing very bright red.

At least one of these women had a wedding ring on their finger. Incredible.

She felt the urge take over. The urge to open her mouth and say the meanest, shittiest, most audacious thing she could possibly think of to punish these strange adults for thinking they could come up to her and condescend to her and use her to get to her Dad.

...to Cor. To get to Cor.

But at the same time these women were probably her teammates' moms, and as much as she did not like the notion, she needed her team to like her. Well, tolerate her at minimum. 

She needed a way to get these weirdos to leave her and Cor alone and not do so in a manner that alienated her from the only people she could stand to be around outside of her family. She needed to say something and she needed to say it quick, before any of these women kept picking into their personal lives and set off her less than desirable impulses.

She opened her mouth, panicked, and said way too loudly: 

“MY DAD’S GAY.”

Well. It wasn’t what she’d meant to say, but it fit the bill nonetheless, as the women who were until just then crowding into her personal space quickly lost interest. And wouldn’t you know it, around the corner came her little brother, running right up to her and grabbing her by the hand.

“HI AMI! Come on it’s waffle time!” And without giving her a chance to respond or react he pulled her back around that corner to see Cor. Bent at the waist. Hands on his face.

Oh.

Oops.

“Um…” Amelia started. His shoulders were shaking. He was...laughing?

Oh thank the fucking Gods.

He put a hand on her head, practically bracing himself. “You’re...you’re a little shit, you know that?” He managed to say between laughs.

“I mean, yeah.” Amelia whispered.

“What does sh-” Prompto began to ask.

“DON’T SAY THAT WORD!” She and Cor yelled at the same time. Hypocrite, thy name is Amelia.

“That’s uh...that’s an adult word. You can say it when you’re grown up.” Cor explained.

“Okay! Are we getting waffles now?” 

Cor nodded, and Prompto took off full speed towards the car.

“What’s so funny?” Amelia asked, noticing he was still snickering here and there.

“Oh...you know…”

“No. I don’t?”

“You called me your Dad.”

“I- No I-...Shut up!”

“You did, you said I was your Dad.”

“Aaaugh!” She stormed off ahead to where Prompto was waiting at the car, hopping in place. This was stupid. She was stupid. Cor was stupid. Everything was stupid!

“Hey.” Cor put his hand on her head again as he opened the car door. “You did great out there, by the way. You’re gonna really kick their asses next time.”

Amelia rolled her eyes. “Yeah. Thanks Dad.” She said sarcastically. Even though it didn’t feel forced or weird or wrong. Just kinda nice.

“What does ass me-”

“DON’T SAY THAT WORD!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I spent way too much time looking up so much about fencing and let me tell you, turns out it's kinda fun to watch? Highly recommend watching old Olympic videos on youtube.
> 
> bramblepeltao3.tumblr.com
> 
> @pandalots on twitter.
> 
> Come talk to me!


	5. Prompto is Five Years Old and Has a Very Bad Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes the worst day ever is just the day before the best day ever.

They warned him. They said, Marshal, you don’t have to be on this case. The Glaive can handle it. You’re needed elsewhere. And the shitty teenager part of him that somehow didn’t die in the Tempering Grounds took that as a challenge. So he got involved in the case that had everyone freaking out, he pushed his way into the initial briefing. And he understood immediately why he was told to stay away from this one.

Three missing kids, their abductions believed to be connected. One of them, a ten year old girl. They’d seen that and said, don’t let the man with a ten year old daughter at home near this case. He can’t handle it. It’ll break him, send him somewhere else.

And to that he said, fuck you and fuck your assumptions. Because knowing there was someone out there picking little kids like his off the street for Gods know what purpose made his blood boil. He wanted to find this creep and get them far, far away from his or anyone’s kids. He pushed himself into the matter and everyone looked at him like he was made of glass and would shatter if they read the details out loud. 

It got really old really fast.

He could handle this. And he could do so while making sure his kids were okay. He doubled his check ins with Asha, and Amelia had to text him when she was going or leaving anywhere. Common sense peace of mind measures. He had this under control.

Until this very morning, when he got into the command center, to hear that the ten year old’s body was found. A woman out jogging with her dog found her. And there were pictures, of course there were. The forensics team needed them. They were right there when he walked in, and the girl, she looked nothing like Amelia, but that didn’t stop his brain from going there. He texted her, told her to bring her gym uniform with her to therapy. She responded with a very rude emoji and an ‘ok’.

He had a training check in with Gladiolus today that would take up his entire afternoon. He had drills to go through, and he needed Cor’s full attention. So she could join them, and he could teach her how to break an attacker’s nose and jaw and kneecaps and everything would be okay. They’d catch the piece of shit child killer and no one else needed to get hurt and it would be okay.

It could’ve been. But then Cor walked into the gym to see his student and his daughter arguing with each other, the one thing he didn’t need right now.

“I work hard at this, just because it’s a position I was born into doesn’t mean I can just slack off and still be the shield.” 

“Oh! Is that not what you’re trying to do?”

She was doing it again, no doubt, she was picking fights where none needed to be, and Gods if he could only figure out why. For every step forward she was making in therapy, she seemed to make a habit of hopping two steps back. Every moment where she acted like she was a normal kid was punctuated by a new way to insist she was the oldest and most capable in the room.

This had to stop.

“Hey.” Was all Cor had to say to get them to shut it. Gladio immediately snapped to attention, as he’d been taught to do. While Amelia simply acknowledged him with her bored angry gremlin face.

“Both of you, over here.” Cor pointed to the floor next to him. “I don’t know what that was all about, and I don’t want to. You’re starting this over. Ami, this is Clarus’ son Gladiolus. Gladio, this is my daughter Amelia. Gladio is training to be the next shield, and overseeing that training is a big part of my job now. I need you,” He pointed accusingly at her, “to behave. You’re going to be seeing each other a lot going forward, and I do not need the headache. You two don’t have to be friends, I’m not even asking you to like each other. Just don’t be a jerk. Just don’t- Ami, Ami look at me. I mean it, please be nice.”

Amelia rolled her eyes. “Whatever.”

“Okay, we’re starting off a little different today, obviously. Amelia needs some self defense training and you’re going to practice detaining angry and violent aggressors. Two birds and all that. Let’s get right to it, Ami, stand in front of Gladio facing me.”

She did. “I seriously don’t need this.” She’d said as much five times already.

“Yes you do.” He did not have the patience for this. Not today.

“Why are you just making more work for yourself?”

“Gladio, grab her.”

The boy awkwardly put his arms around her in a bear hug, pinning her arms to her side. 

“We have a mandatory self defense seminar every semester.” She said, popping both of her arms up at the elbow. A standard move meant to give a little more room to work with. “I go to a prissy rich school for prissy rich girls!” She quickly pivoted so her lower body was standing at an angle to her captor. “Of COURSE I already know all this.” With one quick movement she swept her right leg behind both of his, pushed her right hand into his hip, both of them were on the ground, and Amelia was free. “Escaping from captors is Rich Girl 101!”

Amelia looked pretty content that she had proved her point.

Now Cor was going to prove his.

“Okay. Gladio, do it again, but actually try this time.” Cor said sternly.

“Wha-” In an instant she was not only in the hold, but off her feet and in the air. She grabbed his arms with her hands and made an attempt at throwing her weight back to the ground.

It didn’t work. Gladio had anticipated it and steadied himself.

She tried again. It didn’t work. She thrust her leg back to kick him, but Gladio maneuvered out of her reach. She wrenched her shoulders back and forth but couldn’t make any space to slide out. All the standard, basic, self defense maneuvers that wouldn’t work on someone who didn’t care about taking her alive.

“You’re panicking.” Cor said.

“No SHIT!” She screeched back.

“Your school gives you enough instruction to say that they did. One day isn’t enough time to really build up the skills you need to get away from someone who knows what they’re doing. Now, if this were a real attack, you’d grab one of his fingers and bend it backwards until it breaks, causing enough pain to distract the attacker. If you can’t reach, then you’d bite down on his arm or hand, anything you can get to, until you draw blood.”

“Sir?” Gladio asked.

“Don’t actually do it, Ami. You can let her down now.”

Amelia looked unbelievably angry, like she was ready to break every finger in the room including her own. 

“Your school taught you how to defend yourself assuming you’d be kidnapped by someone looking for a ransom. I’m going to teach you how to get away from someone who actually wants to hurt you. Or worse.”

She was going to argue. She was going to fight and yell. He knew it was coming, her face was wracked with anger and she’d gotten as far as to open her mouth to start the no doubt unending litany of swear words.

But then she didn’t.

She was looking him in the eye and something flashed in hers. And her face softened, and she yielded.

What...was that?

“Fine.” She huffed. That was good enough.

The ceasefire lasted for the next few hours as Cor tried to teach her how to actually get away and survive. Mostly ways to cause the maximum amount of pain with limited mobility. And she did great! She nailed every instruction, like he knew she would. But she still looked sullen, taking no pride in her success. She only spoke when asked something. She had no input, no snark, nothing.

It would’ve been nice if it wasn’t so unsettling.

“Alright, I’ve got a few things to go over with Gladio. Ami, you can go change. Then meet me outside and we’ll go home.”

Not a word of acknowledgement. She just left.

She had to be exhausted. A full day of school, then therapy, and now all this. And he hadn’t exactly gone easy on her either. Asha should have fed Prompto dinner by now, he made a note to ask Ami if there was anything special she’d like to pick up on the way.

And then there was Gladio, who also gave it his all today. And things couldn’t be easy for him, school and training and a brand new baby sister at home. Amelia just had to come in and make sure the wrong foot was forward.

“Gladio, before you go, I want to apologize about Amelia.”

“It’s fine, Sir. It’s obvious she thinks negative attention is the only kind she can get.” Gladio said while going through his cool down stretches. 

Wow.

Cor felt a weird sudden need to defend the girl but then, no, Gladio was right. He was dead right. Positive attention made her uncomfortable to the point that she would turn it around into an insult or fight. How did this eight year old read people like he read books?

Kids today were smart. They were way too smart. He was pretty sure he was nowhere near this smart when he was young. He was probably doing something stupid like running into traffic when he was eight.

He dismissed the boy with a reminder to meet next week, same time again, and what sort of exercises he should be focusing on in the meantime. Cor made to leave the gym and meet with Ami. They needed to have a talk. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and realized he never took it off silent after leaving his previous meeting. He felt his heart sink upon seeing seven missed calls from Asha. Immediately, he dialed her back and got a busy signal. His pulse started pounding as he walked out the door. And standing to his left was Amelia, her cell phone pressed to her face, crying.

\---

Prompto was not having a great day. It all started when he had a dream that he was under the water and he couldn’t get back out from under the water, probably because he didn’t know how to swim. So that was a scary way to wake up. And then Dad went to work and Ami went to school, which made him sad because when they did that they were gone all day when they should be here with him playing games and when they did get home they were both super tired. At least Miss Asha was here, and she was very nice as always.

But his cereal didn’t taste as good and he didn’t want to finish it. And then he was too tired to play Chocobo Race at the park. He took his nap early and slept a really long time, but he was still really tired, plus he hurt all over. And everything was too warm. And he didn’t want his lunch. Miss Asha then put a weird glass thing in his mouth and he had to keep it there with his mouth closed forever. And then she looked at it for a long time and started to get upset, which made him upset!

And then a lot of things happened that weren’t good because he really wanted to take a nap again, but then he was in a big bright building with Miss Asha and strange adults were asking her questions and then there was another thing stuck in his mouth and more adults were upset when they looked at it. Then they put him on a weird bed thing and finally he could go to sleep but they kept waking him back up to do more things.

He wanted to be good, he really did, but this was too much. So he started crying. And it honestly felt very, very good to do so, even if there weren’t any tears coming from his eyes.

And who knows, maybe he should cry more often, because then Dad was there! And that just made everything a whole lot better.

“You’re doing real good, Prom. You’re doing great, keep looking at me.” Dad was rubbing his hair and saying lots of nice things while one of the strange people held his hand. And then she pinched his hand, so he had to turn and look. 

“It’s okay, it’s a special kind of medicine, it’s going to make you feel better.”

There was a needle. In his hand. The strange lady was putting some tape on it which hurt a lot and he was ready to start crying again but then everything felt very cool, like the time he spilled ice water on his shirt, except all over this time. And he was able to lay back down and not be upset again. 

The strange lady asked Dad a bunch of questions, and he heard her say words like ‘influenza’ and ‘overnight for observation’. Then she left and it was just Dad, and he looked really sad.

“Gave us a real scare there, buddy.” He said, still petting his hair. “Last time you were here, you were just a tiny little baby.”

Huh. This bed looked kinda big for a tiny baby, but who was he to argue?

“You got better real quick last time, I know you’ll do it again.” Dad smiled, which always made Prompto smile.

“When can we go home?” He really wanted his stuffed toys and his own bed and his glow in the dark star stickers.

Dad looked sad again. “The doctor said she needs you to sleep here tonight. You got really sick, Prom. They just want to make sure you get better and not...more sick. And then they’ll check you in the morning and if you’re better we can go home.”

So he just needed to get better. Why didn’t anyone say so? Just tell him how to get better and he’ll do it, right now. 

“How do I get better?” He asked. He felt sleepy. He snuggled into the weird crinkly pillow. Dad pulled the thin, weird smelling blanket up over him. He didn’t want to sleep here, where were Dad and Ami going to sleep? There wasn’t any room for them.

“You get better by getting lots of rest, and doing what the nice doctors and nurses say, okay? You think you can do that for me?”

Prompto nodded. He didn’t want to, he didn’t want to be here with a needle in his hand and the big white walls and the weird smells everywhere and the crinkly pillow. But he wanted to be good even more. So he agreed to do it, and hoped it wouldn’t be too hard. 

“Alright. You try to get some sleep, and I’ll be right here in the morning.”

“G’night, love you Daddy.” 

“Love you too, Prom.”

Prompto closed his eyes, thinking it would take forever to actually fall asleep. But in a moment, he was in Magical Moogle world, flying on a bright pink chocobo.

\---

Only one visitor after hours. The most bullshit policy she had ever read in her entire life. It should’ve been her going in there to check on her brother. She knew everything about pediatric influenza. She knew every single test that needed to be run to ensure he was getting the appropriate treatment. Someone needed to be in there checking the chart orders and making sure his care team was doing the right thing. Cor wouldn’t know this. He wouldn’t know that you need to check if the infection was bacterial or viral, and prescribing antibiotics for a viral infection was useless. She needed to know what his O2 saturation was. She needed to know if he was at risk of developing pneumonia. 

Amelia was going insane sitting in the waiting room. She was exhausted, angry, stressed, and worried sick about Prompto. If anything, and she meant anything adverse happened to him because she wasn’t there to check behind the doctors then-

“Hey.” Cor interrupted her spiraling thoughts. He was back. “Nurse at the front desk said their cafeteria is open. Why don’t we go get some dinner?”

The suggestion that they just go enjoy a meal while Prompto was sick enough to be stuck in the hospital was absurd. She wanted to tell him off for everything. For leaving her out here, for making her do those stupid defense lessons, for leaving his phone on silent. She must’ve shown how pissed she was on her face, because before she had a chance to speak he continued.

“Going hungry won’t make him get better faster. Come on, let’s get some food and have a talk.”

Yes. A talk. Good. She had many things to talk about. Like did he even check that they ran a CBC with differential? Did he even know what that was? She had a verbal smackdown ready for him.

But then sitting there at the table with the sad pre-packaged sandwich and chips, everything suddenly felt off. It was the same feeling she had earlier in the day, when she was angry as hell about his insistence on proving she was weak and incapable of handling herself. She was also ready to scream at him then. But he looked scared. Genuinely scared. And that was how he looked now too.

It was eerie then, it was terrifying now. 

Amelia felt like the air around her was somehow suffocating her. 

What the hell was going on? What did he know that he wasn’t telling her?

He didn’t move, start eating, or say anything for a while.

She wanted to say something snarky. Or rude. Or anything. Anything to get any reaction because this was unsettling. But nothing was coming. For once she had nothing to say.

He finally sighed, and looked up at her.

“Amelia-”

“I’m sorry.” She blurted out, not wanting to give him the chance to finish whatever it was he was planning on saying. “I’m sorry that...I’m sorry I was a jerk to your student. And you. Sorry.” It felt weird to say, not least of all because she genuinely meant it. She went looking for a fight where none needed to be, and it made things complicated, and worse, and bad, and it was her fault. She had no excuse.

Why was she like this?

“Ami.” She kept her mouth shut. “I...need you to accept that you’re a kid.”

She blinked.

“You’re a kid, and you have limitations, and vulnerabilities. And no matter how smart you are or how tough you are, it doesn’t negate any of that. I know…” That face again. ”I know you had to grow up too fast. And I know you had to learn to rely on yourself way too young. But this is different.”

Her chance. “What is?”

He looked surprised.

“What’s different? What happened that has you all freaked out?”

Cor closed his eyes, sat back in his seat, and paused a moment.

“There are some things you don’t have to know. Because you’re a kid.”

Amelia wanted to argue, and got far enough to open her mouth, but thought better of it.

“You’re a kid. And you deserve to be a kid. Right? You deserve to be...a happy kid who goes to school and plays with her friends and doesn’t have to worry about things the adults worry about. Just...just be a kid. Please.”

Never in her life had she so badly wanted to do what she was told. She wanted to make him stop being so worried, so scared, it was freaking her out more than any shadows in a sterile hallway ever did. 

Something had changed. Something had happened, and it changed things, and she didn’t even get to know what it was. 

She wanted things to go back to how they were, where she could be a self reliant asshole and he could take her sass and dish it back and then they’d both take care of Prompto and watch movies and everything was okay. How the hell could she just pretend to be a normal kid? What they had was working fine. It was fine.

“I...I don’t know how.” She didn’t know how to turn it off. She didn’t know how to let other people be in charge, because when other people called the shots she got set aside. Forgotten.

“I know.” He said. “I know you don’t. So I need you to trust me.”

Of course she trusted him. He was the only person she could trust. The only person who was ever in her life she could trust it with. The only one who didn’t leave her behind.

“I need you to trust me when I tell you something is too much for you, or you don’t know enough, or when there’s something you don’t need to know. I need…” He put his hand over his face. 

This was too much.

“What happened?” She needed to know what made him so scared. She’d try her best to do everything he’d asked but this thing she needed.

He sighed. “Three days ago, a little girl went missing. Ten years old. Same as you.”

Oh.

“She was just...walking home from school. And then she was gone. Until this morning. They found her dead.”

….oh.

“The forensics team found skin cells under her fingernails. She fought the killer. You understand? She was tough like you. She fought back, and still…”

She stared at the bag of chips that she really didn’t want.

“Ami, it’s...it’s more than this. It’s...other things have happened. I just. I just need to know that when I ask you to be careful, and not start problems, and to just be a kid and not feel like you have to prove yourself at every turn, that you’ll listen to me.”

Of course she would. She trusted him. She knew he’d keep her safe. He’d keep both of them safe. That’s what he did. It’s what he’d always done. He’d always done exactly what he said he would and took care of them and...he cared. 

He was...their Dad. There was no getting around this, no ego saving justification for why she couldn’t accept it. She was a kid. She was a fucking kid, and Prompto was a kid, and they were both vulnerable but he cared enough to protect them. He went out of his way to keep them together and sacrificed and made space in his home and all she’d done in return was doubt and belittle and fight him.

Dolores had said, earlier that afternoon, that her past didn’t have to define her. That there would always be time to change and become who she wanted to be. Amelia had thought that was stupid, in the moment.

She understood now.

“Okay, Dad.”

A word she was still trying to get used to. Still trying to make it feel normal and natural. She wanted it to. She wanted to forget the baggage and memories and nightmares attached to it and just let it exist like this. Just let him be that. They both deserved it. 

He looked surprised. Maybe it finally sounded genuine. Maybe he could just tell that she was accepting this, now, finally. She could let go. She could be someone’s daughter and not have it be something to be afraid of. She could call him Dad. And maybe if she said it enough, believed it enough, maybe she could forget there was ever a time where he wasn’t.

“Okay.” His face softened, he looked a lot less worried now. “Let’s eat this garbage and get home. We’ll get here as early as possible tomorrow. I’ll call you out of school for the day. Hey.” He reached across the table and put his hand on hers. “He’s going to be okay. He was dehydrated but his fever was already going down. He’ll probably go home with us tomorrow.”

She didn’t need to know his test results. Didn’t need to know his exact diagnosis and treatment plan. She just needed to know that this guy who somehow ended up becoming their Dad, right here, four years ago, knew what he was doing and would look out for their best interests, always. She was glad she knew that.

\---

When Prompto woke up his Dad was there, just like he said he would be. And Ami was there too, and she looked happy and brought his chocobo for him. He still had the needle in his hand, but the nice doctor said the nurse would come take it out soon. Everyone told him how good and strong and brave he was, even though all he did was sleep. But it still felt nice. And then the nurse took the needle out and it kinda hurt but she put a big bandage on his hand with flowers all over and it was so pretty he forgot it hurt.

Then another doctor came in and gave a bag to Dad, and then she gave Prompto a lollipop and let him choose which flavor so he chose red. Then she offered one to Ami, and Ami made the face she always makes before she says something that makes all the adults upset at her, but then she asked for the green one and no one was upset.

Prompto fell asleep on the car ride home. Even though he slept all night he was still really tired.

When he woke up he was laying on the couch with his blankets and his pillow and his chocobo. Ami told him he needed to drink a glass of water, so he did, and then she turned on the cartoon channel and sat with him while Dad made a breakfast. Everyone ate in the living room with him, even though they weren’t supposed to. They were allowed to break the rules this one time.

He ate as much as he could, which wasn’t a lot, and then he had to take some medicine with another big glass of water. While the opening music to Super Cactuar Fighters started, he snuggled back down into his blankets. Ami was sitting on the couch, and Dad was in his chair that he pulled up real close to be right next to him. He wished every day could be exactly like this. Maybe without the medicine or the needles, but everything else could be just like this and it would be exactly perfect.

When he woke up again, he didn’t feel like opening his eyes just yet. He could hear Dad and Ami talking to each other, so he decided to just listen to them and rest.

“Seriously? Uncle Reggie is letting the prince slum it up with the riff raff?” That was Ami.

“He wants Noct to have something of a normal childhood. I checked, and it should be easy enough to get Prompto enrolled in the same school.”

“So what, I have to go to Little Princess University and Prompto gets public school? I’m kidding! Geeze, Dad.”

“Pretty sure normal elementary schools don’t have fencing clubs.”

“Point made.”

“Asha will still be around for times I have to be at work, but not as much anymore. Which is fine, she’s getting to the end of her degree. She’ll probably be moving on soon.”

“Hmm. He’s gonna miss her, but once he finds out he gets to see Noct like, every day, I don’t think he’ll mind so much.”

Wait. He gets to see Noct? Every day?!

“I get to see Noct every day?!” He was too excited to pretend to be asleep. 

“Yeah dude, you’ll be starting school really soon. Dad’s gonna put you in the same one as Noctis.” Ami readjusted his blankets so he was tucked in better.

“I can’t promise you’ll both be in the same class, but you’ll see him at recess and lunch and all that.” Dad picked up his chocobo doll from the floor and handed it back to him.

“What’s recess?” He asked. 

“That’s when you don’t have to do any school work for a little bit, and they let you go outside and play.” Ami looked really happy.

Prompto was practically buzzing, he was so excited. He wanted to start school, right now. He wanted to go to school and learn about all the smart stuff his sister talked about and play Chocobo Race with Noctis. He wanted to get started right now!!!

“Can I start school right now?!” He asked hopefully, even though he knew the answer.

Dad and Ami both laughed.

“Not yet, but soon. Real soon.” Dad ran a hand over his hair and it made him feel sleepy again. The tv was still on, but the sound was off. It was playing a commercial for a new cereal. Everything was perfect. It was going to get more perfect soon. He couldn’t wait. As the commercial ended and Fairy Princess Palace came on he drifted off once again, warm and content that his tiny world was soft and good. And even when he felt bad enough to cry, his family would be there to take him back home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> @pandalots on twitter
> 
> bramblepeltao3.tumblr.com
> 
> I've started a series of small one-shot stories on my tumblr that don't really fit into the broader narrative, but I wanted to write them all the same. Right now is one wherein the Leonis family goes to the grocery store and makes a horrifying discovery.
> 
> :'3


	6. Prompto is Six Years Old and He Has a Plan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some ghosts can wrap you in a warm blanket of gentle memories. Others ought to stay in their graves.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one was incredibly difficult to finish, and comes with a massive TW. While it's not detailed, there's references to past child abuse in this chapter, and coping with the death of family members. A lot of feelings needed to get out. I promise I will make up for it, next chapter is going to be nothing but pure cuteness and fluff.

“I think Prompto needs glasses.” Amelia said, right as they started dinner

“No I don’t!” Prompto whined quietly.

“What makes you say that?” Cor frowned. Amelia wasn’t the kind to bully her brother, so she had to have a reason.

“Hold on a minute.” Amelia slipped out of her chair and disappeared into her room.

“Ami! We don’t leave the table during dinner!” Prompto yelped, grasping hopefully to the family house rules.

“Ami your brother’s right, this can wait.” He felt his thin excuse for authority in this home slip through his fingers once again.

“Hold ON, I’m almost DONE!” She yelled from her bedroom down the hall. She stomped back into the dining room and stood a few feet away from her brother.

“Ok Prom, just like earlier. Tell me what these letters and numbers are.” Amelia said gently while lifting a notebook up.

Prompto smiled. “E. J. Q. 7.”

Amelia showed the page to Cor. It did indeed say EJQ7.

“Ok?” Cor asked. “You wanna finish your soup now kid?”

Amelia lifted a finger, turned the page, and took several more steps back. “Do it again.”

Prompto squinted his eyes and tried to lean forward before Amelia reminded him not to.

“3...I...0...T.”

Amelia showed the page to Cor, upon which was still legibly written EJQ7.

Cor frowned. “You having trouble seeing things in class?”

Prompto suddenly began to shrink uncharacteristically under the attention. 

“Kinda…” He whispered.

“You’re not in trouble, I just need to know if you’re having problems.” Cor tried to reassure him.

“He’s afraid you’ll make him get glasses.” Amelia said. 

“Ami!” Prompto squealed.

“What? That’s what you said! He needs to know that.” Amelia turned back to Cor. “He’s scared everyone will make fun of him.”

“Wait, why would anyone make fun of you? Glasses are normal now, right? Ami, tell your brother glasses are normal.”

“I already tried that.” Ami sounded exhausted. “He’s falling behind in vocabulary and I can only help him so much. Prompto, you need glasses.”

“But...I don’t want to...”

This dinner was quickly getting completely out of hand.

“Okay, everyone sit down in your chairs and finish dinner, and then we’ll discuss this.” Cor made a sad attempt to get this situation back under control. Amelia turned the page and wrote something else before turning the notebook around so only he could see.

‘Don’t let him distract you from this’

“What did you write?” The boy grew increasingly more distressed.

Cor sighed, giving up on any amount of normalcy continuing this evening. “Look, buddy, we’ll take you to the eye doctor and get you checked out-”

“Nooooooo…” He whispered, slinking into his chair.

“-and then we’ll look at all your options. For now though just finish your dinner.” Cor was ready to start begging.

“....I don’t wanna…” Prompto whispered.

And he was supposed to be the easy one.

“Dude, there’s carrots in the soup. And carrots are good for your vision.” Amelia poked at her brother, trying to appeal to his current anxiety. “Thus, if you eat the soup with the carrots…”

“I won’t need glasses?” Prompto asked hopefully.

Amelia looked a little dumbstruck. “No promises, but you should try?”

Nice.

“You should eat your dinner because eating food is good for you.” Cor said.

“...okay…” Prompto reluctantly picked up his spoon and went back to eating, not removing the sullen look from his face.

After dinner Amelia gladly took care of the dishes. She’d recently taken to using chores as her personal alone time, at her therapist’s suggestion, and the ritual of it seemed to work wonders for her mental health.

Sometimes she’d even talk about the things she thought about while doing it. A huge improvement on her part.

Meanwhile, Prompto was playing some pokie-mans game on the kind of newer Nintendo console (it was newer than the one Cor already owned, which was very, very old). He was squinting, and eventually moved from the couch and sat on the floor close to the television. The voice of Cor’s own Father admonishing him for doing so and ‘ruining his eyesight’ echoed in his ears.

Amelia walked into the room, glanced at her brother cross legged on the carpet, and turned to Cor with a very disapproving look.

“Yeah...I know…” He said. He was already on his phone, looking up pediatric optometrists and seeing how soon he could make an appointment. Lucky enough, he found an appointment that easily lined up with Amelia’s therapy for the week. Two birds, one afternoon. Plus, he could see about setting up a post-appointment play date with Noct to sweeten the deal. Those were becoming less and less prevalent, which was kind of okay considering Prompto now got to see his best friend five days a week.

At recesses and lunch. Maybe next year they’d make it into the same class, but something was better than nothing for now.

“Get any good pics?” Amelia asked her brother. 

Prompto sighed. “No, I threw the apples wrong. I need to do the level again.”

“Alright.” She said, sitting down right next to him. “Get me a good photo of Meowth. I like that one.”

“Okay!” He squeaked, full of determination with his new goal.

Cor didn’t know what a Meowth was, what these little monsters were, why they liked to fight each other and, most importantly, why there was a whole game where all you did was take pictures of them. But Prompto loved it, and it made him happy to do well at it, and really that was all that mattered.

Watching him navigate this game, however foreign it was to him, brought Cor back to his own time around Prompto’s age. He’d loved playing the little 8 and 16 bit sprite games. Just endlessly moving forward, taking out anything that stood between him and rescuing the princess, or destroying the evil vampire, or saving all the forest creatures. Gods, he’d loved those games. Even when newer and better games and consoles came out, that was the only one he wanted.

One more thing he’d lost in that fire.

And tried to replace, once he’d settled into adult life and had his own income. But it ended up never even leaving the box, sitting in a closet collecting dust. He knew now, after so many years passed, the game wasn’t the thing he was actually trying to replace. It was just one of the few destroyed things that could be. 

He’d outgrown his childhood hobby, alongside his favorite clothes, the action figures that once occupied the shelf on his wall, his old bed, and the tree in the backyard he’d spent so much time just sitting in and staring out at the landscape that reached to the wall and further.

He’d lost a lot of things he could easily replace today if he wanted. But what he really wanted back was gone forever. Burned up in a single moment. A complete accident. Not even the ability to seek revenge was offered to comfort the pain. An angry, devastated teenager who’d just lost everything in the blink of an eye with no recourse for satisfying closure..

Was it really that strange that he’d chosen the path he did right after?

And yet somehow, doing the stupidest thing he could have possibly done in that moment had led him here. To this. Dear friends. Dedicated soldiers at his command. Two kids sitting on the floor playing a video game. 

He’d gladly give his life for any of them.

“Look, Daddy! It’s a Squirtle!” Prompto yelled, pointing at the screen.

He prayed he never needed to.

“Yeah, that’s...a blue turtle thing. Good job centering the shot.” He felt a sudden cold loneliness that disappeared as quickly as it came. His own Father loved photography, and took pictures of the family every chance he got. He had dozens of albums and scrapbooks filled with the photos he’d taken.

One more thing, gone forever

Amelia turned around, looking at him disapprovingly. She stood up and joined him on the couch.

“What’s wrong?” She whispered quietly, never wanting to upset her brother.

And here he thought he’d worn that Cor Leonis Frowny Face for so long that his emotions were nigh unreadable. At least that’s what many a seasoned Crownsguard would jokingly say when they thought he wasn’t listening.

“Nothing you need to concern yourself with.” He whispered back.

She gave him that look, the one he was becoming more and more familiar with. The ‘I am angry you are concealing something from me but I respect your need to do so’ face. They’d come to an understanding in that regard. He acknowledged her maturity and need to protect Prompto. She acknowledged there were some things she couldn’t do anything about, and thus did not need to be burdened with. They’d somehow managed to keep this understanding going for almost a year.

He could probably tell her the truth in this situation, she’d most likely lose interest the moment she realized it was just musings on his own stupid childhood. But it didn’t, in fact, concern her and he wanted to keep that line drawn. She didn’t need to waste mental or emotional energy worrying about him. That wasn’t a job for children.

“Prom, it’s bedtime dude. You have school tomorrow.” Amelia said before he could start another level. There were some things she still insisted on taking charge of. And frankly, if she wanted to be the bad guy enforcing bedtime and homework rules, she could have that.

“But I wanna get the Pikachu…” He said, giving them both those ‘I am cute please let me do whatever I want’ eyes.

“You can get the Pikachu tomorrow. Come on, you don’t want to be sleepy during recess right?” Cor asked, trying to appeal to his favorite time of the school day. 

Prompto begrudgingly agreed and turned off the console before dragging his feet to the bathroom.

Amelia, uncharacteristically, stayed put where she was rather than go coach her brother on proper tooth brushing. 

She wasn’t looking at him, apparently her hands were just that interesting.

“Dad…” She started, and damn did he still have a little impostor syndrome every time he heard it, “You know you don’t have to keep your feelings from us, right?”

Well, that wasn’t what he was expecting at all.

“You’ve just...looked sad. Like a lot, lately. I know military guys are supposed to be big tough manly men or whatever, and your generation was raised not to show emotion like that, but...I don’t know. I guess what I want to say is if you’re expecting me to quit suppressing my fears and anxieties and be more open with my feelings, you should consider returning the favor.”

Cor found himself speechless. There was too much to unpack. Like how she implied he’d been holding on to some kind of sadness for awhile now. Or how his eleven year old daughter was trying to play therapist.

“I...appreciate your concern, Ami. I promise though, it’s nothing you need to be worrying about. Just having some old memories creeping up, is all.” Maybe that would be enough to placate her.

It wasn’t. She crossed her arms and studied his face for a moment. “You never talk about your past. Like before we moved in.”

“Heh, didn’t think it was something you’d care about.” He shrugged his shoulders.

“Yeah well, I didn’t…” Amelia smirked. “But we’ve all grown up a lot lately.” She said before getting back up and going to check on Prompto. 

Yeah, they had. All three of them. Prompto went from a sickly, undersized infant to an energetic little kid with a rapidly forming identity all his own. Amelia, once the angry egotistical brat who pushed everyone away, now a maturing pre-teen who didn’t need to obsessively control everything.

And Cor…

Cor was…

Well, he certainly felt different. And that could very well be attributed to going from the youngest participant in everything he’d ever done to being the only adult in the situation. But he felt like something else had changed, grown in him. He couldn’t place it. But he knew it was there. 

Maybe that was enough.

Or maybe he should go to therapy too once in a while.

“Dad!” Prompto came running over, dressed in his pajamas and ready for bed. He waved a book in Cor’s face. 

“That the one you want to read tonight?” Cor asked, scanning the title. ‘Chocobo in Charge’. The story of a baby chocobo who wishes she was in charge so she could eat what she wanted, is suddenly put in charge of everything, and realizes being in charge is hard. A very basic, limited vocabulary, action and consequence children’s book. But it had very silly drawings of chocobos on every page so of course it was his favorite.

“Yeah, but you gotta do the voices.” Prompto demanded, peeking his eyes adorably over the book.

“Alright, I’ll do the voices but you have to make the chocobo sounds.” He said, standing and picking the kid up.

“Kweeeh!” Prompto squeaked, flapping his arms.

“Yep, just like that.”

\---

Amelia really would’ve preferred to be there, at the optometrist, with her brother. She really would’ve liked to have held his hand if he was scared, or helped him pick out a pair of glasses he would like.

However, and it really did pain her to acknowledge this, it was important that Prompto had time alone with Dad. Little kids needed to have that bonding one on one time with their parents, especially at his age when the world was opening more and more to him every day. He needed that parental anchor to help guide him through it. 

So here she was, in therapy again. While it had certainly served its purpose in the beginning, she couldn't help but feel this process had diminishing returns. Their sessions were starting to get repetitive, going over things that happened during the week and how she handled her problems by not hitting them. Now each session started with Dolores asking how she was feeling, did she have anything pressing she wanted to discuss, and then ‘tell me about your week’.

She hadn’t had any grand revelations in months. Really, she felt despite all predictions to the contrary, she’d somehow become...adjusted.

Which is why she was so taken aback suddenly when Dolores opened today’s session with:

“Let’s talk about your mother.”

That...was certainly something they hadn’t discussed in the last three years.

“O...kay?” Amelia answered. This felt weird, sudden. Did Dad say something that triggered this? She couldn’t remember mentioning the woman at all in a long time. She couldn’t remember even thinking about her in a very long time. She most certainly didn’t want to discuss her.

“Can you tell me what you remember about her? I’m sure it’s not much, since you were so young when she passed.”

“Well…” Amelia took a moment. She still remembered everything about that time, because of course she could. She remembered everything. It didn’t make it easy to go skipping through those memories and discuss the gritty details. “I think I mentioned before, she didn’t like me.”

Dolores nodded, not writing anything down.

“And, I know it was because I looked like...my ex-father.” She and Dolores had brainstormed a way to comfortably talk about that man, especially since she wanted to divorce him from the title now that she had an Actual Dad, and together they came up with ex-father.

She took a deep breath. Might as well face all of this in one quick go.

“So their marriage? It was like some...political strategic union or something. Her family’s wealth supplemented his research before it became useful to the Emperor, or that’s what I heard her say once. But my mom, she wanted the marriage to actually work. Appearances were important to her. So after years of him ignoring her, she managed to make me happen. As like a last ditch effort to try and get him to care. But he didn’t. Big shocker. And since I ruined her body and looked like him and still failed to make him love her...she resented me.”

Dolores nodded. “And how did she make that known? That she resented you?”

There was always an implicit understanding between Amelia and Dolores that she didn’t have to answer any question or expand on any topic if she wasn’t comfortable doing so. For the first time, she considered taking her up on that offer.

But it was here now, fresh in her mind as if it just happened. If she didn’t talk about it, it would end up just festering there and who knows where that would take her? She was doing well. She was feeling happy. She wanted to keep that up.

“At first she just ignored me. I had a nanny...first one, she was older. She quit when I was...three? Yeah. And then a younger woman came in and took over. She wasn’t very experienced and was in over her head. And I took advantage of that. I’d run everywhere, hide, climb into places I wasn’t supposed to be. I loved just exploring anything I could get into. And we had a large house to explore so I never got bored. And I got away with it for a while. Until this one time...I broke something. A vase. Pretty sure it was worthless, I know it was ugly. It was just an excuse. It was her excuse to finally just…”

You can do this. Just say the words. Just say them out loud. She can’t hurt you now if you tell.

“She kicked the shit out of me.”

Dolores didn’t flinch, or change expressions. As if she was expecting Amelia to say exactly that.

“She beat me so bad that she told all her friends I was deathly sick and had to be isolated off in my room for a month. I know, because they wouldn’t stop talking about how I had such a loving mother who doted on me on my deathbed and nursed me back to life. But it was like getting away with it once made her believe it was okay to keep doing it. And since that first story probably wouldn’t work twice, she made sure to be more precise every other time. Hit me where a frilly dress could easily hide the evidence.”

She’d never told anyone this before now. She’d never spoken about these memories out loud.

“How do you think those experiences affected you?” Dolores asked. 

“I learned how to hide better. I learned how to become part of the background and not need anything from anyone. If I needed something I just...figured it out for myself. And it worked! For then. It worked. I didn’t need anyone…” In fact she’d only just recently started letting herself feel like relying on anyone at all was an acceptable way to live.

“So then, when you were taken to live with your ex-father, you carried those coping mechanisms over with you?” Dolores asked.

Amelia laughed. “Yeah! And it worked really well, too. Nobody wanted me there, least of all myself. I mean there was that one lady who worked in the cafeteria, she was really nice. She always made a special kid’s plate for me every meal.”

“I bet that felt very special.” 

“Yeah.” Yeah it did. She wondered how that woman was doing. If she missed the smart mouth little girl who loved buttered noodles. If she’d recognize her if she saw her today.

“Do you think those experiences still affect you?” Dolores asked.

Amelia paused. How could something she barely even thought about anymore still affect her? Well. As it turned out, it did. It put her at odds with the first adult to actually open their arms to her. It almost ruined her chance at a normal family life for her brother. It robbed her of being a kid, having those experiences, making friends. 

She still didn’t trust, deep down, completely, that Cor actually loved her like a daughter. Unconditionally. Like they say Dads do in stories. Even after everything he’d done for her. All the bullshit she’d put him through. Everything that had happened, she had every bit of evidence she needed to feel confident that this time was different. This time, she was wanted. 

A voice in her mind that sounded an awful lot like her mother whispered, “You don’t deserve that.”

“Yeah.” Was all she could seem to get out.

“Have you spoken with the Marshal about any of this?” Dolores seemed to already know the answer.

“No...you’re the first person I’ve ever told.”

And it still felt wrong, like her mother’s ghost would crawl out of its grave to come punish her for telling.

“Well, I know you’ve been making a lot of progress with opening yourself emotionally at home. I would consider that maybe, if you could share this history, it would be a little bit easier for him to understand you. After all, recovery is a wheel…”

“And it’s normal to fall off and get back on a lot.” Amelia knew that phrase by heart, and the implication. She was doing great. But at any moment, something could happen, or maybe nothing at all, and she’d find herself slipping back. Angry, distrustful, pushing people away from her.

She didn’t want that. Not after how hard she’d worked to get here.

“Maybe. Maybe I’ll tell him.” And if he knew maybe he could catch her if she slipped before she fell too hard. Maybe she could trust that he’d want to do that.

“Amelia, I ask because I’ve recently come into possession of something that might assist.” Dolores said while opening a drawer in her desk.

This...was different.

“We’ve recently been able to get into some...back doors I should say, into some of Niflheim’s government agencies. There’s a lot to explain but, I asked specifically for this if it existed.” Dolores placed a tan folder on her desk, opening it to reveal one of the photocopied pages. 

Amelia knew that piece of paper. The font. The photo of her, staring vacantly at the camera. The rubber stamp marking her case as closed.

It was her file with social services. The one that was compiled after...

Dolores already knew.

“There’s a lot to discuss in here, things I’m not even certain you knew about, Amelia. But this could also be something that begs to be forgotten. I’m letting you decide what will be done with it. I can give this to you to keep, maybe give it to your Dad to screen for you first. I can keep it myself here in your records where no one else could see. Or, if you wish, I can destroy it. And no one else needs to know it ever existed.”

She didn’t know what to say. Didn’t know what to do. This. This was.

This was too much.

“I want it.” She blurted out. She didn’t know if she’d open it, read it, or toss it in the garbage on their way out. She just knew that pieces of herself were contained in that file and she wanted them in her hands. Now.

Dolores closed the file and handed it over to her. She took it, and just let it sit in her lap unopened. 

“What you decide to do with that information is completely yours to make. But I will be here, ready to talk about any of it in case you do. And Amelia? I…” Dolores tapped her pen on her desk a few times before continuing. “I want you to know, I read through this ahead of time as part of my agreement with...well. People who had no business knowing yours. I agreed to read through it and report if there was anything in there pertaining to national security.”

The file started to feel heavier on her knees.

“Happy to report there was no such thing in there. Just know, Amelia, I wouldn’t have read this without your consent otherwise.” Dolores looked incredibly remorseful.

Maybe she should’ve felt upset that Dolores pried into her past without permission. But if she hadn’t…

“It’s okay. Thank you.” Amelia reassured her.

Her appointment finished long before Prompto’s playdate was through, and she was told she could spend the remaining time in the gym or the library. She chose the gym. For some reason every time she went into that library she left with a headache. She wondered if there was some sort of ancient mold growing behind the bookcases and spitting spores into the air.

She hadn’t brought appropriate gym attire, and that was fine. She just wanted to work on her balance, and walking back and forth on the beam would do the trick.

The folder sat gently on top of her coat, a reminder in the corner of her eye that it was there and nothing was stopping her from opening it.

But she already knew what was in it: her old name, photos of her injuries, documented complaints and excuses from relatives, and her psych evaluation. She remembered every piece being made, every question on the evaluation, ever angry comment any of her mother’s family had about her. The file already existed perfectly well in her mind.

But when Dolores said there might be things in there she didn’t know about...she wasn’t sure if she wanted to add those things to her internal hard drive. 

She focused on balance: walk from one end to the other, slowly turn around, repeat. She wanted to get to a point where she could complete two goes without stumbling or trembling once. She most likely wouldn’t get there today, but it was a nice way to occupy her brain while she waited on them.

She heard the door open while she was facing away from it. At first there were no sounds of footsteps, and then a sigh and someone began walking in. 

Someone who most certainly did not want to see her there.

And that was fair. 

The person in question walked past her without looking at her. It was that boy, Dad’s student. The one who was supposed to spend his life protecting Noctis.

The one who she had, immediately upon meeting him, decided was someone worth fighting with and thus wrecked any chance of cordiality with someone her age. Again.

She felt a bit of shame wash over her, but he didn’t seem to want to talk or even acknowledge her. That was fine. That was fair. She could quietly practice her balance, and he could...apparently go to town on that punching bag in the corner. Like, really wailing into it. She didn’t know punching bags could be that noisy. It got loud enough that the next time she turned towards his direction, she simply stayed there and watched. 

It seemed like they both had a lot of anger to get out today.

The door opened behind her again. This time she immediately recognized the gait echoing across the floor. She hopped down from the bar, knowing it was time to go. Dad was walking towards her but had his eyes on the boy in the corner.

“Here,” he said, passing a very morose looking Prompto over to her. “Wait here, I’ll just be a minute.”

“What’s wrong, dude?” She asked her brother.

“The doctor said I have to have glasses…” He whined quietly. Well, that was expected.

“Did you pick out a style you liked?” She asked. He shrugged his shoulders. “I’m sure it’s gonna be fine. You’ll see better, and that means you can throw apples and pokeballs better and get better pictures.” She tried reassuring him. 

In the far corner, their Dad was crouched down talking to Gladiolus. Dad put a hand on his shoulder. The boy looked tired. She couldn’t hear what they were saying, but after a few moments the boy nodded, Dad gave him a pat on the back, and began walking back to them.

“Alright, let’s get dinner. Prompto, it’s your turn to pick tonight.” Dad started shuffling them out. “What’s that?” He asked, gesturing to the file she’d picked up off her coat.

“Oh, Dr. Dolores gave it to me.” She answered, unsure what else to say.

“More therapy homework?”

Yeah, something like that. She nodded.

“I want Kenny’s…” Prompto said quietly. Amelia contained her knee jerk reaction to look disgusted, not wanting to ruin it for him. 

As they walked through the door and into the hall, she asked her Dad “Is he okay?” 

He let out a soft sigh in response. “He’s...got some things going on. Hoping it turns out alright but...it’s not likely. He’s just going to need some time.”

She felt like shit, and made a note to be even a little bit nicer the next time they met. Like, saying hello without an ulterior motive as a start. She gripped the folder tightly, trying to remind herself that the contents didn’t need to be her life any longer.

\---

Prompto had to admit, there were many upsides to wearing glasses. First, he could sit more comfortably on the couch when playing Pokemon Snap because he could see everything from far away now. Second, it was easier to see when the teacher wrote something on the chalkboard. Which was pretty critical information when what they were practicing was writing. And finally, he could now see everything forever. It was like turning the lights on at night; everything was crisp and clean and vibrant.

So maybe he could deal with the occasional smudges and how it felt weird having them sit on his nose, and the mean things other kids were saying. Truth was, they were going to say mean things anyway. There were a lot of mean kids in his class, and every day he felt a deep sadness that he couldn’t be in Noct’s class. But there were a couple of safe classmates who were nice to him and that would do for now.

If they weren’t in the same class next year, Noct already promised he’d tell his Dad to make the Principal change it. And no one could say no to Noct’s Dad so that was great. In the meantime they had break periods to catch up and play. Sometimes they’d just hang out together under one of the trees and talk about how different their lives were.

Noctis had so many people whose job was to do whatever he wanted them to do. He even had someone whose job it was to be his big brother. Prompto had heard about him before but hadn’t been able to meet him yet. He had a lot more schooling to do than they did, and was always busy studying when Prompto visited. Noctis also had stuff he had to do after school, like learning how to have good manners and greeting different kinds of people. 

Being royalty honestly didn’t sound very fun. Prompto was kind of glad he wasn’t. He hoped one day Noctis could visit at his house, and they could play Pokemon and Dad could cook them a big dinner and he wouldn’t have to do any Prince work.

He hoped that could happen soon, because today Noct looked sad. And he wasn’t very talkative. So when they ate lunch under their favorite tree, Prompto decided to ask why.

“I’m okay.” Noctis said softly. “I just had a dream about my Mom last night, and I miss her a lot.”

Oh. A Mom. Yes, Prompto had heard of such things. They were like Dads, but ladies. Kind of like Miss Asha but not really. He and Ami didn’t have one. But they had a very good Dad, so that was okay. Still, it was sad that Noct missed his.

“I’m sorry, Noct.” He said. “Do you want to trade your carrot sticks for my pudding?” That always cheered him up. And indeed, it made the other boy smile as they made the exchange.

“What’s your Mom like?” Noct asked between spoonfuls.

“I don’t have one!” Prompto replied. Noctis seemed shocked at his answer.

“Oh, did she die? Like mine?” He asked.

“No. I just never had one. We just have our Dad.” That seemed like a pretty straightforward answer, but Noct still seemed confused.

“I thought everyone had a Mom? Because babies come from their bellies? That’s what Ignis said.”

Oh, well that’s where the confusion came from.

“We don’t have a Mom because Dad picked us.” Prompto clarified. He recounted the story his sister had told him a few months ago. “We were both at the hospital because I was sick, and Dad was there and felt bad that we were in the hospital, so he told the Doctor that he wanted to be our Dad so he could take care of us. And then he took us home! So we’re...a non-traditional family.” That was the term Ami had used. Their family was different, but still just as good as any other, because they were safe and loved.

And to be honest, it was really cool knowing their Dad picked them. He chose to be their Dad and to give them a home. That thought made Prompto very happy.

“So, you had a Mom and Dad before but didn’t know them?” Noct asked.

Prompto shrugged. That made sense, but he’d never thought to ask. Ami probably knew, she was probably old enough to remember them. But she never talked about it so he didn’t ask. He felt strangely weird thinking about that.

He didn’t want to think about that.

And luckily the bell rang, ending the conversation for them. Unluckily, this meant it was arts and crafts time back in class. Which involved very little talking, and thus while he was gluing glitter onto construction paper he had more time to think. Ami always looked upset when he asked questions about being a baby, what she was like when she was his age, anything about a long time ago. And that made him sad, so he tried not to ask those questions.

He knew Dad chose them. He knew they came from somewhere else (the meaner kids in class had made that point to him already). He knew he had a special mark on his wrist that he needed to keep covered outside because most people thought it wasn’t okay for him to have that. Dad said he already had it when he found him as a baby. Ami never said anything about it, but she did help him pick out fun things to wear over it. Miss Asha always acted like it wasn't even there.

He’d never really thought to question all of that before. But now he kinda wanted to, but mostly he just wanted to stop thinking about it. It was probably too complicated for him to understand, like most things were. They’d probably tell him when he was older and he could understand then. He tried to focus on his confetti glitter pom pom ball masterpiece, hoping to make something that was more fridgeworthy than the last one.

And then, a few nights later, something sad happened. Prompto didn’t know what. He just knew that Dad got a call during dinner, and he was very upset. So Ami asked him to help her clean up everything, and even though he wanted to play Pokemon, she convinced him that letting Dad talk quietly on the phone would be a nice thing to do. So they went into her room, and he cuddled up to his big sister, and she read him a story.

Ami always read him stories with big words and few pictures. But she always stopped to let him ask questions and explain things, and he liked that. So he forgave her for having boring books. 

This book was about a little girl who was mean and rude, and nobody liked her. But then she learned to be friends with other people, and discovered a secret place full of flowers and trees and all kinds of pretty plants. She helped a little boy who was sick find the garden too, and they played together and got healthy and helped all the plants get healthier too.

It was a really nice story, even without pictures. And near the end Dad came in, and sat on Ami’s other side, and listened to her read. He still looked sad, but the story had a happy ending at least. So when it was finally time for bed everyone seemed to feel a little bit better. 

What a strange day, he thought, as he snuggled under his blankets with his favorite chocobo doll. He had to think about a lot of sad things today. His best friend was sad. His Dad was sad. And even though she didn’t show it, Ami sounded sad when she read some of the lines in the book. He wondered if being sad was just part of growing up, if he was noticing it more because he was older.

He didn’t like that. He didn’t like everyone he loved being sad. He decided, if everyone was having a bad time, then he’d just have to fix it himself. If he could make everyone else happy, then no one would be sad, and then he’d be happy all the time too.

It was a solid, foolproof plan and as he fell asleep he felt completely ready to put it into action.

\----

It was a beautiful sunny day, standing in complete contrast to the mood among all of those gathered there. The air was warm, comforting, a small solace given to those trying to say their final farewells.

Cor did not like funerals.

But then, probably no one did. 

The first one he attended was 18 years ago. It was the second worst day of his life. The day that caused the funeral to happen was the first. Two souls were buried that day, in this very graveyard even. A bit of a walk away from where they were now.

Cor didn’t know the deceased too well. But he did know she was immensely beloved by one of his dear friends. She was an amazing mother to a young boy Cor cared a great deal about, as well as a little infant too young to understand the loss. She loved flowers, named both her kids after her favorites, and started a fantastic garden at the Amicitia estate. She was sweet, a hard worker, and never had a bad word to say about anyone. Struck down by a sudden illness that drained everything from her until she had nothing left.

The seemingly random nature of the universe never felt more unfair than it did in moments like this.

He hadn’t planned to bring his kids. They didn’t know her. They barely knew Clarus and Gladio. But scheduling and availability meant he didn’t have much of a choice. He was grateful, as always, for Amelia’s ability to keep her little brother occupied and quiet. He knew if he needed to ask questions, he could ask her very quietly and she’d try to answer. 

It was everything a royal funeral is supposed to be. In stark contrast to the last one he’d been to, which was scarcely attended by friends and a few distant relatives. But at the center of both of them was a young boy who’d just lost the entire world, and had to act like it didn’t hurt like Hell. Cor planned to find ways to get Gladio to open up during training. He wouldn’t let this kid suppress his sorrow. Losing a parent just isn’t something you let a child go through without immense support. 

After all the mournful pomp and circumstance was done, Cor offered Clarus their presence. Just to be there to talk, help, do whatever. Not let them grieve alone. Clarus, ever the one to mourn in solitude, politely declined, and simply thanked him for being a caring friend. It felt so very wrong to turn back around and walk away, but he respected his friend’s wishes and did just that.

Nearby, he found his kids at an unknown gravesite. Amelia was kneeling next to Prompto, pointing at the gravestone and talking to him.

“He wanted to know what it said.” She explained.

Cor nodded. This particular tombstone was for someone named Grace. She’d died almost fifty years ago. Her tombstone looked clean and brand new, so someone must have cared enough to keep visiting.

Guilt dropped on him like an anvil in a cartoon. He remembered Amelia’s earlier ask, to be more open about his past, and made a decision.

“Let’s go for a walk.” He said, leading the two kids down a lovely paved walkway through bright green hills and stone relics reminding the living that they were once like them. They once walked these paths too. It took a while to remember where exactly they were, but soon enough he found what he was looking for.

“What does that one say?” Prompto asked, pointing at the gravestone on the left.

“Amelia Leonis. Beloved wife and mother. She was only 35?” Amelia looked up at him.

“That’s Ami’s name…” Prompto looked very concerned.

“Yeah, that’s where we got her name from. Amelia was my Mom. She would’ve been your Grandma. And that,” he pointed to the grave right next to it, “was my Dad. Benivole Leonis. His friends called him Ben. He would’ve been your Grandpa.”

“He was 36.” Amelia said.

“They met in school, best friends, and got married right after high school. They were...amazing people. Great parents.” The model of everything he hoped he could be.

Amelia was seemingly doing the math, realizing how young he must have been when they both passed on the very same day.

“What happened?” She asked.

“Well,” he started, knowing this conversation was coming but feeling completely knocked back by the question all the same, “there was a fire. It was some...electrical issue in the house. It was old. A very old house, you don’t have to worry about that happening at ours.” He said to a worried looking Prompto. “I got out, and I thought that they’d be right behind me. Too much smoke though, they didn’t make it. I...lost a lot that day.”

Amelia took his hand. “I’m sorry.” She whispered.

He thought of how he lived his life after that day. Signed up for the military, right after the funeral. Lied about his age to get in. Threw himself into one catastrophe after another, vocally criticized those with the power to end his life, getting into situations he had no right to be in.

Fought an ancient spirit, just to prove he could, and barely left with his life.

Ran into enemy territory undercover and came back with a new family.

How the hell did he keep doing this?

Every time he was sure he was making the wrong decision, he came out the other end for the better. It’s like the Gods themselves wouldn’t let him succumb to his survivor’s guilt. And look where he was now: alive, with friends, a career, a home, two kids, and every reason to keep on living.

Exactly what Amelia and Ben wanted for him.

“You should tell us about them.” Amelia interrupted his train of thought.

Yeah. He should. 

“Well for starters, they both would’ve loved you two, and spoiled you completely.” He smirked. His Mom would have bought them gifts every time she saw them. She would have doted on Prompto completely. His Dad would’ve insisted on taking them out to eat wherever they wanted all the time. He would have challenged and encouraged Ami’s wit, armchair philosopher that he was. 

“We should visit them again.” Amelia suggested.

“And bring lots of flowers!” Prompto added.

“Yeah, we will.” Cor felt a little choked up. “Let’s go get some waffles, and I’ll tell you about the time they started a revolution in eighth grade and demanded their principal let the girls wear pants.”

“And they were rebels too? Oh, I need to hear everything about our grandparents.” Amelia smiled, squeezing his hand. 

The sun began setting behind them, turning the sky a beautiful pink hue. Soft and gentle. Exactly what they needed. What his friend needed now. Cor prayed to whatever Astral up there who might be listening to let the softness to hang around awhile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> @pandalots on twitter
> 
> bramblepeltao3.tumblr.com


	7. Prompto is Seven Years Old Starting Right Now!

“We need to figure out what we’re doing for Prompto’s birthday.” Amelia urged. “It’s next week.”

He was turning seven, and getting into the ‘old enough to understand and appreciate birthdays’ zone. The perfect area of time to make birthdays really fun, memorable experiences.

Something Amelia had refused for herself. So of course she insisted her brother get it instead.

“What are we thinking, a party? Invite his friends from school?” Cor asked, hoping to have time to add their ideas to his trusty list making app once they were parked.

Amelia shook her head. “I was actually thinking, maybe a trip somewhere? Like on the weekend. If you can get the time off…”

“What, a house full of little kids doesn’t sound exciting to you?” Cor asked sarcastically. But Amelia made an awkward face. Not dismissive, or upset, or any of her other standard emotions. Like he’d just said something uncomfortable. “What? What’s wrong?”

She seemed to hesitate. “Prompto...doesn’t have...a lot of friends.” She said in a conspicuously careful manner.

“Okay, just having a few friends is nothing strange. What, three or four? You can still have a fun birthday party with that many.” He would know. He’d done it himself when he turned eighteen and the most powerful man in Lucis bought him a beer.

“Yeah, it’s more like…” She sucked air between her teeth, “One. One friend.”

That couldn’t be right. She had to be exaggerating. He already knew at least one of Prompto’s frien-...

“Noct?” He asked.

“Yeah. That’s...it’s just Noct.” She sighed. “He’s just, like, really shy with other kids at school, or that’s what he told me. It’s weird, I know it doesn’t seem like him at all. But they just want to hang out with each other and he seems happy enough, I guess?” She wasn’t even convincing herself. “Look, we knew he was going to face the same...challenges that I did. The fact that he has any friends at all is a huge step up from me.” Amelia stated that fact like it wasn’t a completely heartbreaking thing for a twelve year old to have no friends.

But it was true, they did expect these same challenges, and the not so warm attitude towards people born outside the city was only getting worse. But still...Prompto and Amelia were polar opposites on the social scale, how could he only have one friend?

Even worse, Cor knew Noctis was indisposed for two weeks. Some sort of diplomatic matter, they wanted the kid to start getting used to royal decorum and the like. If they wanted to do something on Prompto’s actual birthday, it couldn’t include his apparently only friend.

“So, a trip, huh? You sounded like you had something in mind, what is it?”

“I’m glad you asked.” She said, unzipping her backpack and pulling out a small stack of papers. “I found the perfect place that would maximize Prompto’s enjoyment while minimizing cost and travel. I made an itemized budget including food, gifts, and activities as well as a structured timeline that allows for plenty of wiggle room if weather outlooks change.”

Of course she did.

“Gotta keep my eyes on the road, mind giving me the executive summary?” Cor asked.

“I found a place that lets you ride chocobos.” She smirked.

Oh shit.

Oh.

Shit that was perfect. Incredible. Yes, that was the absolute best idea.

“It’s a little ways outside the city, but they have lodgings and food and, in my opinion, it’s all completely worth it.” Amelia tucked her paper stack back in her bag as they pulled up to Prompto’s school.

“Yeah but, how far out from the city are we talking? It’s not really safe to take a kid out there.” Cor frowned. These were things he had to think about now. Along with where the parent pickup parking area was outside of the elementary school, and how if you didn’t park in the right spot a very grouchy woman paid by the school would yell at you until you did.

“Seriously? After everything else you’ve done, this is what freaks you out?” 

She didn’t know the half of it.

“Dad, they wouldn’t have an entire setup like this if it wasn’t safe. They have to protect the chocobos at night, so they probably have plenty of lighting. Seriously, there is not a single reason why we can’t make this happen.” She insisted.

“Alright, your brother’s almost to the car, we’ll talk more about this later.”

And there were plenty of reasons why he couldn’t make this happen. Traveling outside of the city walls had its own level of danger for anyone, much less two kids that the enemy had a probable stake in getting back.

Inside the wall they were mostly safe. Since tightening security there hadn’t been another incident in over a year. But that didn’t mean there wasn’t an already present danger still skulking around inside, so his guard never really went back down.

Outside the wall, he had no control over what Imperial goons were around. He couldn’t control if the lights failed in the middle of the night or some huge local monster animal decided to come crashing in.

And even worse, what if something happened inside the wall while he was gone?

If something happened to Regis and he wasn’t there to protect him, Cor didn’t think he could ever forgive himself.

There were too many openings for a disaster. This wasn’t going to work. Not now, at least. Amelia might not be happy with the decision, but she’d just have to deal with it. They could come up with something just as good, maybe even better.

And Cor told her just as much that evening, after Prompto had gone to bed and she was finishing up an assignment for school.

“It’s just not feasible. I need to stay close by in case something threatens Regis or Noct. I’m sorry kid, but I know we can figure something else out.”

She stood up from the table, arms crossed, eyed him up and down, and looked at him like she was massively disappointed.

Then she snatched his work phone from the table.

“Ami what are you doing, you know it’s lock-” She unlocked it. “AMI WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” She dodged his attempt to block her from running into the living room as she continued pressing digits on the screen. He felt his heart stop as she put the phone to her ear and he could audibly hear a ring.

“Hello!” She chirped into the receiver as she continued dodging his attempts to get his phone back, vaulting over the couch and pivoting around it to perfectly avoid his grasp.

Damn that fencing footwork.

“May I speak to Uncle Reggie please?”

“Ami it’s nine at night, you can’t just-”

“Yes, I mean his majesty.”

“You cannot just call the King whenever you feel like it! Ami- damnit, Ami get back here!”

As Cor once again managed to miss subduing his twelve year old daughter, he was reminded of a time when he single handedly took out fourteen Imperial soldiers in less than a minute.

Is this what getting old was? He needed to hit the gym more.

“Yes you can take a message!” She bolted down the hallway, into her room, and locked the door before he could get to it. “Yes please inform Uncle Reggie that the Marshal’s son’s birthday is coming up, and he needs the time off to take him to a chocobo ranch. Yes. Thank you, have a wonderful night!”

She was grounded. She was grounded, and had to sit in a corner and think about what she did, and she had to do extra chores for a week, and she was going to write apology letters to Regis and whoever that was on the phone, and every other appropriate punishment he could think of, she was getting it.

He heard the door unlock. He crossed his arms and made the most frowny angry frowny face he could manage. She opened the door, looking like a cat who knocked something made of glass off the table just to watch it break.

“Here,” she handed him his own phone back. “You’re welcome.”

Cor could actually feel his hair going gray. He took his phone, and prepared to tell her just how in trouble she was, before she cut him off.

“I’m right and you know it!” She whisper yelled and closed her door again.

Cor took a deep breath. Tomorrow he’d apologize to his boss, and he’d have a conversation with Ami’s therapist about boundaries and respecting personal property. And just like every time she did something like this, they’d have a talk, and she’d cry and apologize, and then she’d be extra helpful and careful with her actions until another thing happened that set her off. Rinse and repeat.

There had to be a way to break this cycle.

The next morning, as Cor walked into the Citadel to begin his day, he was asked to see His Majesty as soon as possible.

Here it comes.

Regis had been more than understanding the last few years. As a Father himself, that came as little surprise. But still, Cor was grateful to the King all the same for allowing him to move around his schedule to accommodate for little things like being there after school, having a whole weekend now and then to spend with them, or just flexibility in general to be a half decent parent. Accommodations Regis allowed Cor when he, himself, couldn’t even have them.

And Cor had stayed true to his word. Despite the growing amount of time he now spent outside the Citadel, his duty to the crown was still his first priority. His oath sworn to his King and dear friend to protect him above all else would always come first. And maybe one day, when she was grown up, Amelia would finally understand that and forgive him for times like this.

“Marshal!” Clarus waved for Cor to join the two of them inside the drawing room. It was a barely used space, with dust on a few surfaces to show for it. It was comfortable, quiet, tucked far away from the daily hustle of service staff, guards, and dignitaries. 

It was a perfect room to get chewed out in.

Cor steeled himself to face the consequences of his shithead daughter’s actions (how did she know his lock code anyway?) and moved to join them. Regis, sitting in a very large and very old looking armchair, gestured to the one across from him. Ah yes, he should sit down, this was going to take awhile.

“Sir, I’d like to-”

Regis cutoff Cor’s attempt to begin the groveling process by raising his hand.

“Cor, a little bird told me your boy’s birthday is coming up?” Regis seemed unable to contain a mirthful smirk as he spoke. “And that you might be requiring a short leave of absence to attend to said festivities?”

He sighed. He knew why he couldn’t. Even staying within the city limits, there were too many things going on. The visit from the diplomat required extra vigilance, and Crownsguard applications were filing in for the next year. Now just wasn’t the right time to do something like this.

“Highness,” Sometimes the title just flew from his mouth out of habit, “I know Amelia was out of line and I want to assure you, I’m fully aware that leaving the city for personal business isn’t an acceptable ask right now. I know we can make Prompto’s birthday memorable without creating unnecessary risk.”

There, that ought to settle that.

Regis turned his head towards his Shield, and the two shared a look for a brief moment before Regis continued.

“Clarus...does the Marshal seem a bit...pale to you?” He asked.

“...Sir?” That was not the response Cor was expecting.

“Indeed, your Majesty.” Clarus concurred. “In fact, he seems a bit under the weather as it were.”

“This will not do, I cannot have my Crownsguard in anything less than optimal condition.” Regis’ smirk was a full smile now. “Clarus, what would you suggest in this situation?”

“You cannot be serious.” Cor couldn’t believe what he was hearing, were they really going to play around like this now? Really?!

“I think some time out in the fresh air might do him some good. Say, oh, a weekend in the countryside? Maybe someplace with plenty of large birds.” Clarus, who had managed to continue playing it straight until now, chuckled.

“Then we are all agreed, Marshal, you’ll be taking an extended weekend to recuperate your health and return to us refreshed.”

No. No we were certainly not all agreed. Going out on sick leave would undermine his reputation. There was too much that had to be done, too many risks in him leaving. This wasn’t okay.

“I’m sorry, I can’t play along with this. I know you’re trying to...look, I really appreciate the gesture, I do, but-”

“Cor, there’s this little saying among parents who have been at it for a long while.” Clarus’ smile disappeared, face turning somber. “One day, you’ll hold your child like you always do, and then you’ll set them down. And you’ll never hold them like that again.”

Yeah, he’d heard that one before. A long time ago. Long before it had any meaning to him.

Gladiolus was ten now. It certainly meant something to Clarus.

“So I will have to insist once again,” Regis stood from his seat, “that you take this trip with your children. For your health.” He emphasized the last sentence, and it bore a cold hole into Cor’s heart.

One day Amelia would be old enough to understand why he made the decisions he did, as she went on to make the same ones. Prompto would be old enough to go out on his own, live his own life, no watchful eyes needed. One day his kids weren’t going to be kids, and he’d be left with the memories of what little time he had to try and be their Dad.

Amelia’s voice rang in his ears, ’I’m right and you know it.’

She was going to be so insufferable tonight.

“Alright.” He surrendered. “I get the point.”

The point being, you have this opportunity. You can be the Father that we wish we could be. Cor could see it in both their faces. Regret, resignation, they wanted what they could give him and they weren’t about to let him throw it away. It wasn’t fair. Nothing about their positions ever was. 

It wasn’t fair, but he’d take it.

“Oh,” Regis said, “but there’s one small thing I need you to do while you’re out…”

\---

Prompto didn’t know where they were going, or why Ami had that binder in her lap, or why Dad had them pack clothes and their toothbrushes. He just knew they were in the car, and going some place they’d never been, and everyone was really happy about it. In fact, Dad and Ami had seemed to go out of their way to not tell him where they were going. Just ‘you’ll see!’ over and over. He just hoped they remembered his birthday was tomorrow.

Ami took a very deep breath.

“Last chance to chicken out.” Dad said to her.

“I’m fine, let’s go!” She yelled. They were driving up to the wall, the one his teacher said was there to protect them from demons and enemies. They were…

They were going outside of the wall. Prompto remembered what all the other kids had said. That there were demons that liked to eat people out there. They were big and some of them looked like snakes, and they’d snatch you up and then they’d eat you and you’d die.

“Why are we going outside the wall?” He asked, trying very hard not to sound like a scared baby.

“You’ll see, buddy.” Dad said as they passed the final checkpoint and that was that.

They were in Demon World now. 

They were going to die. 

Prompto gripped his seatbelt for dear life as they passed into the whole new landscape. Why would Dad do this? Why would he drive somewhere so dangerous? Why wasn’t Ami freaking out and yelling bad words?! He thought for sure he was just having a bad dream, nobody was acting reasonable or like themselves.

He yelped as he felt something on his shoulder, only to see it was his sister’s hand.

“Hey dude, you doing okay? You look stressed. Did you forget to use the bathroom before we left?”

He gulped. He knew his sister would never make fun of him for being afraid, so he may as well be honest. “I’m scared, Ami. Aren’t there monsters out here?”

“Huh? Oh, the demons!” She said loud enough for Dad to hear. “You don’t have to be afraid of those, they only come out at night.”

That didn’t make it any better!

Prompto looked at the digital clock on the car dashboard. 2:03 pm. That was a few hours from dinner time, and then a couple hours after that was nighttime. So they only had like five or so hours to get back to the wall that they were still very much driving quickly away from.

“Are we gonna make it back in time?” He squeaked.

“No worries, Prom.” Dad answered from the front seat. “We’re going to be staying at the place we’re heading to. And there’ll be plenty of lights, demons don’t come around when there’s lights on.”

But why? Why go out into this anyway? Was this part of Dad’s job? Were they doing a secret mission? Was this Ami’s idea? What. Was. Going. On!?

“You’ll see!” Ami said, looking way too excited about all this.

Happy Birthday Prompto, you’re going to get eaten by a snake demon because your family suddenly got a case of stupid.

He chanced a peek at the landscape zooming by them. It was strange, a lot of brown stuff. A lot of big rocks. A lot of dirt. No demons, though. He felt himself relaxing a little. Maybe they were right. Maybe it was okay and he could just enjoy the car ride like he always did.

And for about an hour or so, he did.

“Uh, why are we stopping? You filled the tank yesterday.” Ami’s voice had a hint of uneasiness.

It sent Prompto right back into Stress Town.

“A necessary pit stop, we won’t be long. Come on, stretch your legs, go to the bathroom. We’ll be back on the road before you know it.”

“This isn’t on the itinerary. How far off course are we? I can’t believe you didn’t consult me on thi-”

“Ami I am begging you, please relax a little, you’re freaking out your brother.” Dad undid his seatbelt and stepped out of the car, carrying a box that had been sitting in the front seat.

His sister huffed before undoing both of their seatbelts and opening the door. “Come on, you should probably walk around a little bit. I don’t think you’ve ever sat still this long before.” She took his hand and helped him hop out of the car before closing the door, revealing someone who was standing right behind it.

“Hi, y’all!” The girl, who looked to be the same age as Ami, greeted them. “Paw Paw said I should come greet ya. My name’s Cindy!”

She was a little bit taller than Ami, but with much shorter hair. Her jacket and jean pants were all covered in what he assumed to be car grease. Despite that grease also being smudged on her face, she was very pretty, and had a huge warm smile.

He liked this girl.

“My name is Prompto!” He reached his hand out to shake hers, exactly like he’d been taught. 

“It’s mighty nice to meet you, Prompto. And what’s your name?” She smiled over at Ami, whose eyes were strangely very wide.

“I’m...uh, my name is…”

This was taking too long.

“This is my sister, her name is Ami and she’s TWELVE years old!” Yeah that pretty much summed her up.

Cindy giggled and, upon seeing Ami wasn’t about to extend her hand like he had, decided instead to greet his sister with a hug. 

“I just turned thirteen! We don’t get a lot of folks my age round here. Y’all wanna come have an ice cream while your Dad and my Paw Paw catch up?” She gestured towards the restaurant behind her.

“Yes! I want ice cream! Can we, Ami, pretty please?!” He was so excited he was hopping on his toes. After sitting still for an hour worrying about his certain looming death, ice cream with a new friend was exactly what he needed.

“Uh, yeah. That’s...good.” She mumbled. Her face was really red, probably because it was so hot out here. She definitely needed to go inside and have ice cream. So he took her hand and led her as they followed Cindy over to the promised ice cream land. 

He ordered a scoop of chocolate, and Cindy suggested he get it as a sundae since it was ‘on the house’. He didn’t understand what that meant, but he wasn’t about to pass up an offer of chocolate sauce, whipped cream, and a cherry on his ice cream. Cindy asked for a strawberry cone. And when it was Ami’s turn, she seemed to forget what they were even doing sitting in the booth.

“Ami likes vanilla!” Prompto offered. He knew his sister very well and could help her out if she wasn’t feeling good.

“Oh, yeah. Vanilla is fine. Thank you.” She looked embarrassed. 

“Paw Paw says you’re from the city, I bet that’s mighty exciting with all those cars and big buildings everywhere.” Cindy took a few napkins to wipe the oil off her hands and face.

“Yeah, there’s LOTS of cars back home. And the buildings are so big sometimes I look up at them and feel really dizzy.” Prompto liked talking with Cindy. He thought it’d be really nice if they could be friends and visit after this trip ended. Maybe they could write each other letters!

He wished Ami would talk some. He knew his sister didn’t have any friends, and Cindy seemed like she wanted to be her friend. He needed to get the conversation over to her so they could be friends.

“My sister does fencing!” He said. And she was really good at it, it was really fun watching her jump around and hit people with her stick.

Cindy looked confused. “Like, building fences?” She asked.

“Oh, uh,” Ami looked like she’d just woken up from a nap, “fencing like, the sport? It’s a dumb sport for dumb rich girls. But like, we each have a foil, it’s a long thin sword, and whoever hits the other first wins.”

Cindy smiled. “Oh! Yeah, I’ve heard of fencing. That takes a lot of speed and finesse, doesn’t it?”

“Uh huh…” Ami seemed to care a lot about the table. “So do you uh...live or, work? Here?” The words stumbled awkwardly out of her mouth.

“Yep! I live here with my Paw Paw. He’s teaching me how to fix up cars real nice!”

A very tall man came by, dropping their orders in front of them. It was the best ice cream sundae Prompto had ever seen, and suddenly it was feeling a whole lot like his birthday was right now.

“Do you like cars a lot, Cindy?” Prompto asked between huge spoonfuls of chocolate on chocolate.

“Ah sure do! Love just gettin’ into a new engine and seeing how different they’re all laid out. Figurin’ out how to diagnose different problems, how to tweak things just right to give it more power, and of course making them look real pretty! Car paint ain’t easy to work with but if you can get it right, you can make a mighty nice work of art.”

Watching people talk about the things they loved was always really fun.

Ami hadn’t touched her ice cream, so Prompto kicked her from under the table. Wasting ice cream was a crime he wouldn’t let his sister commit. 

“It’s melting!” He said, pointing at her little bowl when she snapped her face up at him.

She awkwardly dug into it. Man she was being weird today.

“Awe, you two are such cute siblings. I always wished I had a little brother.” Cindy’s smile was infectious, and the way she took a real interest in everything just sparked something really exciting in Prompto.

He wanted to be exactly like her. He wanted to make people feel happy and warm just like she was doing. He studied her as she spoke, taking in how enthusiastically she talked about her work. She had so much to say about something he’d always viewed as nothing more than a fun thing to sit inside of. It was inspiring, and he wanted to find something that made him feel the same way.

Ami sat quietly and listened to her talk. She had a strange far off look on her face. 

Maybe she needed a nap.

“Sorry that took so long, kids, we can get back on the road now.” Dad walked up to meet them at the table. “Ah, you must be Cid’s granddaughter. Thanks for keeping these two company. What do I owe you for the ice cream?”

“Nope! Paw Paw said your money ain’t good here. His treat.” She smiled wide at him. 

“Of course he did.” Dad chuckled. “Alright you two, let’s head out.”

Cindy jumped out of the booth and on to her feet. “Ya’ll come back soon, ya hear?” She waved at Prompto and gave Ami another hug just as she managed to stand up.

“Yeah. Nice to meet you.” Ami mumbled before stepping back and following Dad out of the diner.

“All the way out here just to deliver a hammer. I swear, sometimes I don’t- You okay Ami?” Dad asked as they got into the car.

“Uh, yeah, I’m fine.”

“Is it too hot? Your face is really red.”

“IsaidI’mfine!” She huffed through gritted teeth.

Dad turned up the air conditioning anyway. Which was soon unnecessary, as the dry desert landscape soon began fading into more green and lots of shade. So much green! He was so amazed at all the different trees and plants and other greenery, he couldn’t even find himself able to care much about the time.

“We’re almost there!” Ami seemed to have turned her whole attitude around, and her excitement was getting him riled up too.

The air started to smell funny, but like in a nice way? The curtain of trees opened up to reveal other cars, people, a scattering of buildings and-

No way.

No way.

Was that really?

It couldn’t be. 

Prompto turned to look at his sister in disbelief. She was the happiest he thought he’d ever seen her. Dad parked the car and turned around in his seat.

“Happy birthday, buddy.” 

He was speechless. He literally couldn’t speak. He didn’t think he could breathe either. This couldn’t be real. This couldn’t be...real…

Chocobos.

Dad got out of the car. Ami undid her seatbelt. Prompto couldn’t remember how seatbelts worked.

He was sure this was a dream. Or maybe they got eaten by a demon and this was the afterlife. In the distance he could hear a soft, ‘Kweeeeh’.

His door opened and Dad helped him out of the car. Ami grabbed him by the hand and took off, wrenching his mind out of the disbelieving stupor. She pulled him until they made it up to a line of fencing, Dad not too far behind.

And there it was. In all it’s beautiful, yellow, feathery glory.

A real, living, breathing, squawking chocobo. They were big. Enormous. So much bigger than he’d ever imagined. It looked over at them, tilted its head, and slowly made its way over.

“Breathe, Prompto.” His sister rubbed his shoulder as the creature moved ever closer. He felt Dad pick him up from behind, helping to balance his feet on the bottom rail of the wooden fence.

“Ami, here.” He could hear his Dad handing something over to her, he didn’t know what. He couldn’t stop looking at the bird who seemed to find him just as interesting as he did in turn.

It was close enough now, he could reach out and touch it if he tried. But what if it didn’t like that? What if he pet the chocobo wrong and it hated him forever? What if he messed up this perfect moment and was never, ever happy again in his entire life?

The chocobo turned its head sideways, and studied him before nudging its beak against Prompto’s hand.

It.

It wanted him to pet it.

“She wants to say hello, Prom.” Dad reached out over him and gave the chocobo a light pat on the head. She nuzzled into it, closing her eyes and letting out a small cooing sound. “Now you try.”

So he did. He reached out his hand, and the chocobo lowered her head to allow him access to right where she wanted to be rubbed. She was soft. So soft. He had no idea real chocobos were this incredibly soft. The cooing sound picked up in volume the more he gently rubbed his hand through her feathers. 

After a moment, she seemed content with the attention she’d received and turned to walk back to the others.

There were others. There were so many chocobos. 

“I think I got enough.” Ami said, walking towards them as Dad placed him back down on the ground. She was holding a small camera. “There’s probably at least one good one in there.”

“Think Prompto’s a little shell shocked.” Dad put a hand on his head, he felt like he was waking up from an incredible dream.

Only he was still in the dream.

They walked over to a strange man who was very nice and gave Dad some keys, then they sat down and someone asked him what he wanted to eat for dinner but he just couldn’t think about things like that. He couldn’t stop staring at all the birds running, eating, sleeping, being all around perfect creatures right there in front of him.

“Dude, you haven’t said anything since we got here. You okay?”

Prompto suddenly felt completely overwhelmed as all the pieces came together, and he finally realized this was a trip they planned just for him, for his birthday, and they were staying the night here so he could spend more time tomorrow doing what he could see other kids doing. Petting, brushing, feeding, riding! Riding the chocobos!

He started crying. He’d cried from being happy before but this time just felt so incredibly bigger than anything he’d ever felt. They did all this for him, to make him happy.

He loved his family so much.

“Th-thank you!” He managed to say between sobs. He was enveloped in warm hugs and ‘you’re welcomes’ and reassuring back rubs.

“We’re probably never topping this one, but I’m glad we could figure out a perfect birthday gift for you, buddy.”

“If you think this is cool, just wait until you see everything we’ve got planned for tomorrow.”

His head was swimming. Disbelief was gone, now replaced with pure unbridled excitement. His dreams were coming true, right now, and he got to share them with his family. This was going to be the best birthday in the history of birthdays ever.

\---

Amelia woke up first, wanting to take some time to go over her itinerary before the day began. She dressed and took her binder outside to the plastic table and chairs sitting right by the RV door. It was quiet, the sun was just cresting over the horizon and the air was a bit chilly. She zipped up her hooded sweatshirt and got to work.

Or at least she tried.

Whenever she looked at the laminated pages in the three ring binder, her mind kept drifting off to other things. Things like half melted ice cream, olive green eyes, a laugh that was sweet and smooth like honey, a really cute jacket covered in oil stains…

Amelia was confused. She normally didn’t care for other girls. Or boys. Or anyone outside her very small orbit of acceptable people. But that Cindy girl...she was just....warm. And pretty. And passionate. And for some reason Amelia couldn’t stop thinking about her. She wanted to see her again, and actually try to talk to her. Why did she clam up like that? Why did she like this girl so much? What was wrong with-

The door slamming against the side of the RV shook her out of her daydreaming. She snapped around in the plastic chair to see...her Dad, still in his sleep clothes, looking ridiculously freaked out. He noticed her looking at him and instantly relaxed enough he may as well have dropped down onto the stairs.

“Ami, good Gods, you scared the shit out of me.” He whispered while gently closing the door.

“Dad, seriously, we talked about this. You need to chill.” His anxiety was proving to be more of a danger than any spooky demon ever could be. “Is Prompto still asleep? He’s usually not awake until seven, which is another twenty minutes.”

He slumped into the plastic chair sitting across from her. “Ami, I really need you to understand what I’m dealing with here.” 

She wished she could articulate what she was dealing with too.

“I’m happy...that we can go about our lives together like it didn’t start how it did.”

Yeah. It was nice. Sometimes even she could kind of sort of forget that it wasn’t always like this.

“But you two are still...there’s a present danger that...look, I don’t want to freak you out.” He was obviously still trying to wake up.

“I’m twelve now Dad, it’s fine, just tell me what’s up.” Whatever it took to get him to relax for a minute and just enjoy this outing like they were a normal family.

“Ami, there are people from over there that managed to get into the city. Spies...operatives… it’s happened a few times. The point is, there are people who pose a serious threat to your safety. And being outside the city wall like this, it’s just making me nervous.”

Oh, well that was easy enough to fix. “I highly doubt he wants me back.” He didn’t even want her in the first place, why would he get the Empire to send operatives into enemy territory to get her? The thought was ridiculous. Prompto? Maybe, but unlikely too. He was one of who knows how many. Neither of them would be worth the effort. This was a non-issue, he just needed to have some coffee and wake up and before they knew it he’d be too caught up in Prompto being insanely happy to care.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought too.” He rubbed his hand over his eyes.

“...but?” He knew more than he was letting on. And yes, yes they’d been over this a hundred times. She didn’t exactly need to know every state secret that held a vague threat but if something was really weighing on him like this he needed to cough it up before he ruined this entire thing.

“Just...promise me, while we’re out here, that you won’t go off anywhere without telling me. I just need that.”

“Yeah. Okay. I promise.”

“Thank you.” He sighed. She wasn’t sure how else to reassure him. He already gave her the tools to decimate anyone who thought they could lay a finger on her or her brother. And one or two spies? She wasn’t worried about that. That’s what he was there for. They were fine.

Maybe the promise would be enough for now.

The door creaked open again and there was her brother, rubbing his eyes under his glasses.

“Is it time?” He asked, clearly still drowsy.

Amelia closed her binder. “Yeah dude, but you gotta get dressed first!” She laughed, guiding him back into the RV. “And make sure you put on your sweatshirt, it’s cold out here!”

The concession area wouldn’t be open until eight, so they had time to walk around and watch the chocobos wake up, preen, and enjoy the sunshine. The birds must have been used to little kids hand feeding them, because they kept walking up to the fence line right to Prompto. Amelia couldn’t have orchestrated the experience better if she tried.

She took a few steps back from the fence. It was great that her little brother loved these creatures as much as he did. Amelia, though, was wary of them. Those big beaks looked like they could crush a man’s skull. It took everything in her not to snatch Prompto away from them when he reached out to stroke their feathers.

It’s fine. It’s fine. Kids do this every day. They’re gentle creatures, that’s what all your research stated.

It’s fine.

“Ami, come pet this one!” Prompto yelled back at her.

Nope. Nope, not fine, not gonna happen. No thank you, she liked her hands where they were right now. Safely tucked in her sweatshirt pockets. Far away from that huge beast.

“I’m good, hey why don’t I take more pictures? Dad where’s the camera?” She could do that and be far away from these things and still make this whole situation great. 

Her Dad, however, frowned back at her. “Are you...scared of the chocobo?” He whispered.

The audacity. The nerve. How dare he suggest she was afraid of these giant speedy death machines with sharp beaks and claws.

How. Dare.

“I wanna take a picture! It’s my turn!” Prompto yelped. “Ami, pet the chocobo and I’ll take a picture!”

After a moment spent explaining the basics of real life photo taking to the boy, her Dad looked at her and gestured at the bird still waiting for more affection.

This wasn’t happening. It couldn’t be. Her brother grabbed her arm and was pulling her towards the huge death machine on two legs. Its vacant, glassy eyes were looking directly into her soul.

“Come on, just do it once so your brother can take a photo. It’s safe, you can do it.” Her Dad patted her on the shoulder reassuringly.

She was at the fence now, the creature was leaning its long neck down to her level.

Okay. She could do this.

She extended one very shaky arm, the other still tucked safely away and gripping onto her sweatshirt fabric for dear life. The bird moved its head into her hand and she clenched up, shutting her eyes tight and waiting for the inevitable pain of losing her hand. Instead what she got was a brush of softness, like a thin knit blanket tangling through her fingers. Her Dad’s hand was on her shoulder, bracing her up straight.

“Open your eyes,” he said gently, “see? She likes you.”

The bird had her own eyes closed, nuzzling into her trembling hand.

“Did you get the photo yet, Prom?” She asked with urgency.

“Just a few more, I wanna try to get the lighting better!”

“Please hurry.” She begged as she watched her little brother change positions, duck down, move at angles, and click click click away the entire time. Why did he choose NOW to play photographer?!

“Okay, done!” He chirped. Amelia wrenched her arm back, hand in pocket, and moved away from the fence to general safety.

“Kid, if you’re this freaked out, how are you going to make it through the rest of the trip?” Her Dad had the nerve to ask with a laugh.

“I’m fine let’s get breakfast come on!” She power walked back to the seating area that was just now opening for guests. She was fine. She could get through this. This was all for her sweet perfect angel baby brother who was currently making fun of her scared face in all of the photos.

Breakfast was a difficult dilemma as Prompto continuously stopped eating mid-bite to point out every single chocobo walking around. Yes, they were surrounded. She just wanted to finish this blueberry muffin without thinking about giant birds or being an embarrassed scared mess or how much she liked the cute girl she met yesterday and whhhyyyyy was everything so AWFUL right now!?

“We never do anything for your birthday.” Prompto said after finally finishing breakfast. “How come?”

Thank the Astrals, finally, something to change the subject. 

But why did it have to be that subject?

Amelia tried to find the right words to explain. She didn’t want to be a downer, especially right now when they were getting ready to check out the baby chocobo pen (and really, those things were so tiny, she could totally be fine around them, right?) She never wanted to lie to him, but there were some things he just didn’t need to know.

A lot of things, actually.

“Well, I’m not really big into celebrating birthdays for myself, you know? I’d rather we put all that energy into making sure your birthdays are super special. Doing that makes me way more happy.” She thought that explanation could suffice.

It didn’t, Prompto just looked more confused. “But what if other people also want to feel happy doing things for you?” He asked.

Amelia paused. Somehow, that thought had never crossed her mind before now.

“I think we should have a birthday for you next time.” Prompto said with immense confidence. 

“Oh, we really don’t need-”

“I agree.” Dad interrupted her. “Thirteen is a big milestone. You’ll be a teenager who wants to avoid people and thinks she knows everything for whole new reasons.” 

She rolled her eyes in response, but she got the message. Yes, her body was going to enter into the stage of adolescent change known as ‘puberty’. She was not looking forward to everything that entailed, and she certainly didn’t feel like celebrating it. So what if she managed to survive living a whole entire year? She did that every year. It wasn’t a big deal. It’s not like she managed to do that by herse-

Oh.

She let that feeling sit in her mind for a while, trying to not instead consider the tiny chirping fluffballs threatening to bite her ankles off. Her birthday was a mark of her continuing survival, and a means of everyone who had a hand in it to feel pretty good that they managed to get her there.

It wasn’t just for her, it was a shared experience. A shared goal. Her Dad and brother were happy she was still here. Still kicking. Still healing and working and changing. And just like she was celebrating that for Prompto today, they deserved to celebrate doing that for her.

Alright. She got it.

“Okay, we can do a thing for my birthday next year.” She said while reaching her hand down to try and pet one of these high energy little monsters. “But it has to be a surprise, just like we did for you.” She pointed at her brother. “If you tell me ahead of time I’m just going to ruin it. So make it a surprise.”

“I think we can manage that, what do you think, buddy?” Dad asked the birthday boy currently covered in little feathery versions of himself all vying for his attention.

“YEAH!” He managed to yelp out between giggles.

Somehow Amelia found herself actually holding one of the creepy things. It wasn’t so bad. They were somehow even softer than the adult ones. And once it felt secure, it settled in and seemed to simply enjoy the act of being held. It probably liked the warmth from her body, maybe even the sound of her heartbeat. Lots of infants in different species felt calmer when they were presented with heartbeat sounds.

Her Dad walked back over to her, trying not to accidentally step on one of the chicks and ruining everything. He put his hand on her face and gave her a side hug, her head pressed gently against his chest.

“Proud of you.” He said.

And for a moment she was just someone’s daughter and someone’s sister and nothing else beyond that really mattered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> @pandalots on twitter
> 
> bramblepeltao3.tumblr.com
> 
> :'3


	8. Prompto is Eight Years Old and is Really Good at Nintendo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How long had it been since he had to fight like he meant it?

Cor tapped the steering wheel of the Regalia impatiently. Behind him was his King and closest friend, Regis. In the passenger seat was Reggie’s Shield, Clarus. The three men were bone tired, finally returning to the Citadel after a very long engagement with several key diplomats. There had been arguing, bargaining, and at the end of it all the three felt like they had simply ended right where they began. In short, it was a complete waste of their time.

The exhaustion was apparent in the thick silence between them. No one had even the motivation to push power on the radio. There was only the purr of the engine and the wind blowing through the windows. Or at least there had been, until they were back in the city. Now they were sitting at a red light that was lasting far too long. The only sound was Cor tapping away at that steering wheel.

“So,” Regis blessedly broke the atmosphere, “how are the kids?” It was a question meant for both of them. The mood in the car immediately felt lighter. If there was one thing all three men in that car loved more than anything, it was talking about their kids. Cor allowed Clarus to gush about his favorite topic first.

“Iris is adorable, as always. Getting bigger every day. Out of the terrible twos and into the terrible threes. Sometimes I wonder where that little baby went, she’s growing up so fast. I swear it didn’t go by so quickly with Gladiolus.”

“Speaking of, he’s been hitting every benchmark in training. Really taking to those broadswords well. He’s set to fill his old man’s shoe’s quite nicely one day.” Cor said. He took a quick look at Clarus who was beaming with pride. “He’s got serious dedication. Don’t think you’ll ever have to worry about Noctis with Gladio at his side.”

Cor glimpsed in the rearview mirror the reflection of Regis looking strangely morose.

“It’s a shame he and Amelia couldn’t get along.” Clarus continued.

Cor cringed. “Yeah...shouldn’t take that personally. Ami is like that with...well, almost everyone.”

“I wonder if she might be a bit jealous of the time Gladio spends with you.” Clarus offered.

It was something Cor had considered before, but it didn’t seem likely. The truth was Gladio had a strong personality, and Amelia had a bad habit of needling anyone and everyone around her. They were destined to be enemies at first sight.

“She’s oh, 13 now?” Regis asked.

“Yeah…officially a teenager” Cor sighed. The other two men sighed right along. “I thought she’d grow out of that attitude but it turns out becoming a teen means a whole new attitude problem. At least she’s still excelling in school. Kicking ass in algebra. She’s started talking about a career in medicine.”

“Not following in her father’s footsteps and lying her way into the military, then?” Clarus joked.

Cor laughed. “I think she would be mortified to even come close to being anything like me.”

“Then I may have some bad news for the young lady.” Regis cracked a smile.

“How’s the boy doing?” Clarus kept the conversation going as the Regalia made her way to the next red light.

“A damn ray of sunshine. I swear, nothing brings that kid down. He’s started begging for a dog and I’m running out of good reasons to say no…” 

“Some things don’t require a reason, you just need to put your foot down…” Clarus said.

“Yeah, you try looking in those big eyes and saying no to him.” Cor was smiling despite the frustrating traffic. “I’m sure you know that all too well, Reggie.”

The King chuckled. “Noctis and Prompto are indeed quite similar in that regard. I believe they’re overdue for another playdate, wouldn’t you agree Marshal?”

“Yeah, Prompto would love that.”

The three men’s joviality was sharply interrupted by the sound of a ringing phone. All three once again cursed the fact that they still had the same ringtone. It was Cor’s this time. He glanced at the caller ID screen and frowned before answering. 

The mood grew tense as Cor asked questions that made it obvious they were about to turn around.

“Hold the line, we’re on our way.” Cor hung up, tossed his phone to Clarus, and prepared to push the Regalia in a way he hadn’t needed to since the day Aurelia went into early labor. “Strap in.”

“Cor?” Regis asked.

“Imperials. Demon. Attacked convoy...with Noctis.” Cor’s mind was running a mile a minute. “They need backup, she’s a big one.”

“Noctis, is he-?” Regis’ voice was shaking.

“Some of my best crownsguard are already there, I guarantee they will not let her get him.” Cor’s heart was pounding in his ears. How long had it been since they had to fight off something like this? How long had it been since he’d had to fight like he meant it? He sent a silent prayer for Noct’s safety. The kid had to be okay.

The kid.

The kids.

_His kids._

“Clarus,” Cor asked before popping the car almost too fast over a median, “Dial my home phone, put it on speaker. Please.”

He did so. It rang, and rang, and rang.

“Dad, what the hell, you said you were almost home three hou-”

“Ami listen to me, you need to put your brother to bed for me tonight ok?” Bright lights flew overhead, a helicopter was going the same way as them. A news helicopter. “No tv tonight. Just read with him, or play Nintendo, or do whatever you guys want just stay inside, keep the doors locked, and do not watch the television, ok?” 

The Crownsguard’s words were ringing in his head. Enormous, snake body, blades, cut down. Five were already cut down, and the prince’s status was unknown. This was going to be like old times. Really old times. This was serious.

“Dad what’s going on?” 

He’d come home tonight. He had no doubts they’d take this threat down just as he’d done every other. He always did. He had to. He was going to.

But still.

“I’ll be home later than I thought. You take care of your brother and be good.”

“Dad!”

“I love you kids, okay?” Cor thought if he was gripping the steering wheel any harder he might break it.

“...we love you too Dad.”

They were almost there. He could see the clusterfuck coming into view. They’d get through this. Noctis would be safe. He’d go home and his kids would be safe. Clarus would make it home and hold his baby girl and tell his son how proud he was.

Gods, the demon was enormous. The engine was still running as Cor ran from the car and into the fray. The scene was a nightmare. Cars were wrecked. There were definitely more than five bodies scattered around the field. Cor relied on his instincts, felt the comforting weight of his blade in his hand, let years of training take his feet forward even while his brain was screaming to go back. 

_Prompto needs a new pair of shoes._

He barked orders at the injured soldiers while dodging blade after sweeping blade.

_The tuition at Amelia’s school went up again._

Cor managed to get a few piercing stabs in, an opening between where the scales in her snake tail laid. She was injured and bleeding but still, it was like they’d barely scratched her. 

_“I’ll walk it every morning and after school, and I’ll brush it every day, please Dad?!”_

In a moment of weakness, just a second, he turned his back to her to pull a fallen comrade back to his feet. He felt something cold against his shoulder. Pain seared through his brain, sparking off a panic the likes of which he hadn’t felt in twenty years. 

_“We love you too Dad.”_

They needed him. He was Cor the Gods Damned Immortal, he made it out of Niflheim and the Proving Grounds with his life, he could make it back from _one fucking demon_. He sure as _shit_ wasn’t going down tonight on the five o'clock news.

Where the hell was Noctis?

The air began to prickle with the familiar surge of magic. Regis was here, his armiger spinning gracefully around his person. With a wave of his hand the blades sunk into her flesh, one at a time. She began to pull back, and the assault continued. She just wouldn’t give. Cor grabbed his shoulder, feeling the beginnings of blood trickling down his arm. The demon screeched and soon, in the blink of an eye, she was gone. Fallen over the cliffside.

There was no way she was truly dead, but it would have to be enough for now.

The moment she was out of sight, Regis fell to his knees. That damned ring was taking everything from him. Clarus was dutifully at his side.

Cor scanned the field again. The thought that Noct’s little body could be in one of those mangled, burning cars sent a second spike of panic through his veins. 

Behind him, not too far, a well dressed woman was lying prone. He knew that woman. Noct’s attendant. He cursed and ran to her body. As he got closer he could make out what was obviously a tiny hand reaching out from underneath her.

Gods please, let him be alright. Let him be alive.

Noctis was alive.

Barely.

Cor screamed across the field for a potion, elixir, anything that anyone might have. As he carefully retrieved the little boy’s body from underneath his nanny he felt a calming trickle of liquid magic pouring onto his wounded shoulder.

“Not me, idiot, the Prince!” Cor snapped before turning to see what moron had just wasted precious resources.

He heard a stammer of apologies, a flurry of movement as more began crowding around the scene.

Gods, Noct looked so pale. His little eyes were shut and his breathing was so shallow and ragged. 

_‘Can I visit Noct this weekend?’ ‘As long as you finish your homework.’_

Regis was by his side, gently scooping his son into his arms. Cor stared down at his empty, blood covered hands. His terror stricken mind filled in the blank space with his own son, forcing him to consider Prompto laying half dead in Noct’s place.

_‘You’re absolutely sure you can do this, Marshal? Kids change you. They change your priorities.’_

_‘My priority is the crown, that will not change.’_

That damned helicopter was directly overhead, spotlight shining down to highlight the misery and bloodshed below. Soon all of Lucis would know the Prince was mortally wounded, perhaps on his deathbed. 

The medics arrived. Regis reluctantly surrendered his little boy into their capable hands as Clarus swung an arm around the King’s shoulders. The three of them sat in their own cold silence, the sounds of people screaming and sirens blaring drowned out by the cloud of suffering surrounding them. 

\---

Amelia sat on the couch in the living room, her focus switching from the clock on the wall to the video game Prompto was playing on the television. Their Dad said that morning he’d be home around 5 or 6 pm. It was 2:17 am. They normally weren’t allowed to stay up this late, even when it wasn’t a school night. She didn’t care.

If Dad didn’t want her to turn on the news, then the television needed to be occupied, because Dad telling her not to do something meant she had a strong compulsion to do it. 

She wanted so badly to check the news. She wanted to know where he was, what was happening, why wasn’t he home now. Amelia had been ready to pick up the remote and start flipping channels the moment he’d said not to. But his voice on the phone, there was something in the way he said it that turned her blood ice cold. Something bad was going on. Something that he didn’t want them to see.

Something Amelia was sure she couldn’t let Prompto see.

So she asked Prompto if he wanted to eat junk food and play video games all night, and if Dad was angry about it she’d take the fall for it. They didn’t have school tomorrow. Amelia wouldn’t be able to sleep anyway. She pulled the ancient Nintendo system out of the closet and figured out how to hook it up. 

Her brother had been playing nearly non-stop since then. She knew he suspected something was wrong, but still he let the game absorb his thoughts at her consistent encouragement.

Prompto grumbled as the jingle signaling the little plumber’s death played for the umpteenth time tonight.

“Why can’t I land the jump?” He whined.

“Video games used to be way harder dude. You need to get the timing exactly right. Keep at it, you almost had it that time.”

Prompto yawned.

“You sleepy?” She asked.

“No…” he lied.

“Then push continue, you got this.”

Prompto restarted the level and began again.

“Why hasn’t Dad called?” He asked as he stomped on a turtle.

Amelia felt nauseous. What was she supposed to tell him? She knew he was an important part of the Lucian military. She understood that by this very fact, every day he was on the job was a day he might not come back. It was something she knew, in theory, but she had never really had to face before tonight. The Empire was getting bolder, creeping closer, if the papers were to be believed. Her foil was perched next to the couch.

Just in case.

She vaguely pondered if nights like this would become their new normal.

“Working for the King is crazy, you know? He’s probably just super busy with important boring government stuff. Ah dude, you missed the mushroom!” She gently slapped him on the arm. “You’re not getting past that dry bones now.”

There was a soft stomping of feet, a key in the door. Prompto dropped the controller and jumped off the couch.

“Dad’s home!” He squealed.

“Prompto, wait-” Amelia reached for her foil.

The door slowly opened, and thank the Gods, Dad really was home.

Prompto stopped dead in his tracks a few feet from where he was leaning in the doorway. 

“Dad?” the little boy asked. Amelia gasped.

“Why aren’t you two in bed?” He asked, shuffling inside and closing the door quietly behind him.

“Ami said-”

“You’re covered in blood!” Is what Ami said.

He took a look at his shirt as if he’d forgotten he was even wearing one. He grimaced. “You two were supposed to be in bed…” He removed his jacket and let it fall to the ground, even though the coat closet was three steps away. “What time is it?”

“Dad are you hurt?” Prompto squeaked.

He slowly lowered himself to his knees, one hand rubbing his face. ”I’m ok, Prom, I’m fine.” He reached out to place a reassuring hand on the kid’s shoulder, but Prompto took the opening to run into him for a hug. Dad hugged him back, tight, then tighter. His shoulders started shaking.

Amelia stood dumbfounded, unable to process everything in front of her. Their Dad was crying, actually crying. She didn’t know why this made her feel small and terrified. He lifted his face from Prompto’s shoulder to look at her. His eyes were bloodshot, wet, and tired. He held out an arm, inviting her into the family feelings pile.

She didn’t think twice, throwing her arms around his neck and nestling against him next to her little brother. He was crying harder now, barely suppressing his sobs, holding them both like they might float away if he let go. 

“It’s ok Dad, don’t cry.” Prompto said, echoing what he’d been told by Dad so often.

Everything was tilted, wrong. For the first time in years Amelia felt like the ground beneath her might crack and fall out from under them. 

He let go, pulled back, and took a few deep breaths. “I thought you’d be in bed.” He said in a cracked and raspy voice.

“Ami said I could play Nintendo.” Prompto explained. He was processing this the best way he could. If she was feeling like the world was ending, how the hell did his eight year old mind feel?

Dad glanced over at the television, the screen was paused with tiny Mario in mid-jump. “You started from the first level?” He asked.

Prompto nodded.

“You’ve gotten pretty far. You help him at all?” Cor turned to her, looking so tired. So...old.

Amelia shook her head. “He did it all on his own.”

“Good job buddy.”

\---

By the time Cor had showered, changed into a t-shirt and sweatpants, and mentally pulled himself together it was nearly four in the morning. The sun would be rising soon. The day could wait. He moved to silence his phone, only to remember the battery had died hours ago. 

After the battle and ensuing horror had come the debriefs, the investigations. How did this happen? Where were the cracks in the system? They had to find evidence this was truly the Empire’s doing. And the paperwork. There was so much paperwork. And at the end of it all was Regis, sitting quietly in a hallway. Waiting patiently for the status of his little boy.

“We may be going to Tenebrae, shortly. If these doctors cannot help him, the Oracle can.”

Regis could not or would not say how long.

In his room was Amelia sitting up on the farthest side of his bed, Prompto curled up in her lap.

Two years ago Prompto had started having nightmares and would insist on crawling into bed with him. Breaking him of that habit had been the hardest thing Cor had to do. (Kids need to learn how to self soothe and find comfort in their own space). He didn’t really give a shit about rules and boundaries and parenting books right now. He slid under the covers, head hitting the pillow roughly, and threw an arm over his eyes.

“You didn’t see it, right?” He hoped Amelia could read between the lines.

“No,” she replied, “no cable. Just video games all night.”

“Good.”

Prompto was quietly snoring. Amelia's breath was hitching.

“This is gonna happen again, isn’t it?” she asked. 

Cor sighed, there was no point in lying about this. She was plenty old enough to get it.

“Yes.” He replied weakly.

“So what happens...what if...what if next time you-”

Cor hushed her, rolling onto his side and gently pulling Prompto between them. That kid was out cold. He readjusted the blankets so she could shuffle underneath and lay down as well.

“You know what they call me?” he asked.

“Cor the Immortal.” Amelia said, a hint of bitterness in her voice. “But it’s just a stupid nickname. It doesn’t mean…”

“Ami, I didn’t get to where I am by being careless. I didn’t get you two here by being careless.”

She shut her eyes and exhaled sharply.

“I’m good at what I do, kid. And I’m good at getting back out of it alive. Yes, this will happen again. There might even be times I’m gone for days. But I always come back. Alright?” Cor wondered who he was trying to convince here. He certainly wasn’t convincing her. “I will always come back home.”

“Okay.” She whispered.

“Now get some sleep. We’ll go to the waffle place later.” Cor closed his eyes. He heard Amelia’s breath even out after a few minutes. He was home. They were safe. 

\---

Prompto was still sleepy, despite it being two in the afternoon and having a full breakfast that was also sorta lunch. He was still shaken up from what happened early in the morning. Seeing Dad like that was far more upsetting than anything any of the bullies at school could possibly say. 

He was glad his Dad was okay, as it were. But it was just too much to take in. So when Ami had tried to get him to go to sleep in his own bed, he’d refused and cried, and he didn’t even care if he was too old for that. He could tell she was hurting too, so it didn’t take much convincing for her to relent and just spend the rest of the night sleeping in Dad’s bed.

He’d woken up lying between the two. Ami had her arm draped over him, Dad had his back to them both. As if he’d been watching the door all night. He could tell they were both breathing. Everyone was alive, and safe, and it was okay. They were okay.

And now the three of them were just walking around the city, which was unusually quiet. A lot of businesses were closed, even though it was a Saturday. He didn’t think there was a holiday today.

“Oh good, they’re open.” Dad said as they stopped in front of one of the storefronts. There was a huge logo of a dog and cat in a heart shape on the door, In green letters on the door was written ‘Second Chances Shelter’ right above a big blue ‘WE’RE OPEN!’ sign. “Let’s just...we’re just looking, okay?” He said as he opened the door.

Inside, a man and woman were standing behind a large desk listening to a radio. As soon as the bell above the door rang to announce their presence, the woman turned the volume all the way down and moved to greet them.

To the left were stacks of large wire crates, each one holding a lounging cat. A large door behind the desk said ‘Dog Room’ above it.

They were in a pet shop.

“Dad said we’re just looking, remember.” Ami whispered to him.

Oh sure, he said that now. But just wait. All he needed was to find one perfect dog and put on just the right sad cute face and Prompto knew they’d be going home with something fluffy.

The man behind the counter grabbed the woman by the wrist and whispered something in her ear, she looked like she’d just found out something really important and turned back at the three of them with a very sad look.

“Hello, Marshal. It’s a pleasure to have you and your children here. What can we help you with today?” She asked.

“My son really wants a dog, I thought maybe we could...take a look at a few of them, show him how much responsibility they are, you know. Just...gauging it.” Dad sounded tired. Everyone, including the people working in the store, actually looked tired.

“Sure, we have a few lovely dogs ready for adoption right now, if you’ll follow me…” She motioned towards the dog room. 

Prompto started to feel very much more awake now. He could hear excited yipping and barks as the door opened, promising a whole world of new furry friends behind. 

Inside there was one very big dog drooling all over the place. A couple of small, excited dogs yapping loudly as they passed. One had a weird scrunched up face, and another looked to be more fur than actual dog. Prompto set his eyes on a beautiful golden retriever who instantly started wagging its tail as soon as it saw him. 

On the dog’s kennel was a note card that stated in big green letters, ‘Hi! My name is Daisy! I love long walks and lots of cuddles. I am a very sweet girl who needs plenty of play time. I’d love to sleep at the foot of your bed!’

From behind, he heard his sister squeak in fear. He turned to see her on her toes, hands up at her shoulders, and a fat striped orange cat rubbing against her legs. 

“Looks like one of your felines is an escape artist.” Dad joked.

“Oh, that’s just Grumbles. He’s been passed over for so long that he kind of just lives here now. We let him wander freely because he isn’t afraid of the dogs, so his presence helps them get used to cats being around. He...usually doesn’t like people much though.”

“Sounds kind of like you, Ami.” Prompto laugh.

The cat continued the assault of flicking his tail against his sister’s shins.

“Heh. Grumbles. That’s great.” Dad said quietly.

“Does he bite?!” Ami’s anxiety was bubbling over.

“Oh no, not at all, unless you do something mean like pull his tail. He usually just avoids most people.”

Dad walked over to where Prompto was admiring Daisy, her snoot pushed through the bars to get a whiff of his hand.

“Seems like you’ve got a fan as well.” He said, sticking his hand out for Daisy to sniff at too.

“Oh yes, Daisy is kind of new here. She’s a sweetheart, very friendly. Would you like to take her into the visiting room and play with her?” The nice lady asked.

“Yes yes yes, please Dad, please please can we?!” Put on the cute face. Make the eyes big. Smile so hard your face is gonna crack. Dad CANNOT say no to that.

“I don’t know, remember we’re just here to look around…”

“Oh for Gods’ sake Dad just let him play with the damn dog!” Ami yelled, still trying to maneuver away from the rather possessive cat.

“Okay, okay, even though you’re going to be afraid of her and you’re going to make me feel guilty when we can’t take her home, fine, let’s play with the dog.” For all his bluster Dad was smiling while he talked.

Daisy began tapping her front paws on the floor as the lady approached with the key ring, a plain leash in the other hand. After hooking her up, they walked to another room in the back. It was filled with cushioned chairs, a couch, and lots of dog toys scattered all over the place. As soon as the leash was off, Daisy was on top of him. Licking, sniffing, tapping those paws like she was doing a special dance.

Dad and Ami sat on the couch to watch the spectacle. And he could hear the nice lady talking to them.

“She came from a home with another little boy, but the mother ended up being allergic. She’s a perfect match for high energy kids…”

Prompto found a squeaky toy to occupy Daisy’s mouth and let her go at it. After a moment though, she dropped it and went right back to licking at his face. He couldn’t help but squeal at the adorable attack. He snuck a peak at his Dad in the hopes all of this was doing the trick, when up above them on a small wooden plank reaching from one corner of the wall to the other, he noticed a visitor.

“Look, it’s Grumbles again.” He said, right as the cat jumped down on the couch, settling in his terrified sister’s lap.

“He must really like you, Grumbles never comes in this room when it’s being used.” 

“Whhhyyy?” Ami cried as the cat sat on its haunches to rub his face against her chin. 

The whining caught Daisy’s attention, who padded over to the spectacle on the couch to give Grumbles a sniff. The cat, in turn, gave a very soft warning growl before swiping a paw at her face.

“Please don’t fight on my lap, oh my Gods.”

Daisy immediately got the message and turned back to nuzzle at Prompto and the toy he held in his hand. Grumbles meanwhile settled down into his sister’s jean covered lap, purring loud enough for the whole room to hear.

“She have any behavioral problems?” Dad asked the lady.

“Not really, no. She did get rather protective of the boy in her last home.”

Dad and Ami simultaneously said, “Really?”

“His parents said she would growl at strangers who got too close to him, bark when someone approached their door, and would become defensive if the boy was scared.” 

Daisy started tapping her feet again as Prompto stood up from the floor. Her tail was wagging hard enough to break anything in its path. He heard Dad give a very long sigh before running a hand through his hair and giving a weird look at Ami.

“How much is your adoption fee?” He finally said, shrugging his shoulders.

Yes! Yes we did it, we won yes yes yes!

“For the dog or the cat?” The lady asked.

“The dog.” Ami said.

“Both.” Dad said at the same time.

“YES!” Prompto screeched, unable to contain his happiness. Daisy hopped on her back legs, matching his excitement.

“Okay, we don’t-” His sister started to challenge Dad’s decision.

“Ami, you’re scratching the chin of your cat doppleganger who only likes you, and you really think I’m going to ignore that? So is there a waiting period, or…?” Dad stood up, giving Daisy a gentle pat on the head as the lady hooked the leash back on.

“Usually it’s two weeks to run a background check but, considering the circumstances, I think these two can go home today if you’re able to take them.” The lady smiled very sadly.

“Circumstances?” Ami asked with suspicion. Yeah, that was a weird thing to say. Prompto looked up at his Dad for answers.

“Yeah, we’ll talk about that when we get home.” He reassured them.

Dad paid the fees, and the man at the front also sold him food bowls, food, a carrier for Grumbles (Good luck with that, he’d said), and a leash for Daisy.

“Praise the Astrals, Grumbles found a person he can tolerate.” The man said. “Goodbye you old bastard, you will not be missed.” The cat purred in response.

In the car, with Daisy laying down on the seat next to him, Prompto couldn’t stop rubbing her head and face. She was perfect. He finally had a dog and she was perfect and wonderful and sweet and fun and everything he wanted in a dog. Last night he was terrified he was going to lose part of his family, and instead today it got even bigger. He could not believe his luck.

“Yeah, I’ll start it while you drive.” Ami took Dad’s phone, opening a list making app. Grumbles, refusing the carrier, simply purred in her lap. 

“Alright. We need tags for both of them. A litter box, that one is a priority.” Dad started listing off things they needed to get.

“Toys! Lots of toys for Daisy!” Prompto yelped from the back seat. She deserved to have every single toy in the store if she wanted it.

“Alright toys, add that one down.” Dad said to Ami.

“Deja vu.” She replied.

Dad chuckled. “Yeah.”

Later that evening, litter box setup, food bowls full, and Daisy freshly walked and tuckered out, Dad called them into the living room. Ami was already there, Grumbles grumbling at the interruption of his quiet time.

“I think we should talk about what happened last night.” Dad said, looking a lot more exhausted than he did when he came home at two in the morning. Prompto felt like someone dropped a brick in his stomach, he didn’t really want to talk about something that made his Dad sad.

“Last night, the Empire dropped a demon in our borders.”

Prompto already felt sick.

“And she attacked a lot of my crownsguard...as well as Noctis.”

Prompto’s eye flew wide open as Ami yelled, “What?!”

“Noct?! Is he-” Prompto’s whole body felt twice as heavy.

“Noctis is alive. He’s alive, but he was injured. He was...really hurt.”

He could feel his heart thudding in his ears. This wasn’t happening. All that blood, was that Noct’s blood? He felt like he might pass out. 

“But he’s okay right?” Ami said a bit too loud. “He’s fine, he’s okay. Right?”

“Noctis is hanging on. But his injuries are beyond what the doctors here could treat, so Noct and Uncle Reggie are going away for a while.”

Here he was, having a great day, laughing and playing and being so happy about his new dog, all the while his best friend had been suffering.

He was the worst person who ever lived.

“This is bullshit.” His sister said, curling in on herself and shoving her back into the corner of the couch. “How could they….how were they able…”

“There’s an investigation, that’s why I had to stay as long as I did. Hey,” Dad turned to him, “there’s an incredible healer where Noct is going. He’ll be back and better before you know it.” 

Prompto had nothing to say, even as he felt Dad’s reassuring hand on the top of his head. Nothing was right. This suddenly felt like the strangest dream turned nightmare. He was sure he was still asleep in Dad’s bed, this whole day could not have been real.

“This is bad, this is so fucked up.” Ami started crying, her breathing sounded loud and painful. She rarely said bad words anymore (at least in front of him). The shock of hearing it made everything feel that much worse. “How did they get in?!”

“Ami, breathe.” Dad was keeping his voice steady and calm.

“NO! This is bullshit, how did this happen?!” She sounded like she was accusing Dad.

He’d never seen his sister this terrified before. Dad moved to sit next to her, trying to coach her through breathing slower, deeper. He was whispering things to her that he couldn’t quite make out, but he could hear the words, “He wasn’t involved. You’re both safe.”

Daisy nuzzled her nose against Prompto’s cheek before giving him a lick. Dad got him a new friend because his best friend in the entire universe was going away. And he didn’t even get to say goodbye. He was going to be alone in school. He didn’t have anyone to go visit on the weekends. He didn’t know if Noctis was in pain or if he missed him or needed a hug. 

All he could do was sit there and cry.

They all slept in the same bed again. And Daisy joined them at their feet, just like her sign said she would. He kept waking up to his sister grabbing him into a tight hug like someone else was trying to take him away. He didn’t mind though, because every time he fell asleep all he could dream about was a sea of blue flowers and his best friend sleeping in them, unable to wake up, no matter how hard he tried.

\---

He got a dog. Why did he do that? He wasn’t going to do that. Prompto needed to show a little more maturity and responsibility before committing to a dog. It was supposed to be a small pit stop on the way home to raise everyone’s spirits a little before he had to crush them all over again.

He was probably supposed to do that in the reverse order.

And now they had a dog.

And a cat. You got the cat too. She didn’t even ask for the cat. She gave you an out to not take the cat! But you somehow brought home a dog AND a cat.

He’d freaked out his son and freaked out himself so he bought the kid the exact thing he wanted, and bought himself a creature with sharp teeth and a history of protecting little boys. And he’d given his daughter a panic attack thinking her shitty biological father was coming for them, so he bought her the cat who apparently decided for him the transaction was going to happen anyway.

Yes, these were all logical reasons to suddenly go from no pets to two. 

Cor stared at the slowly filling coffee pot that couldn’t finish fast enough. He’d woken up first, his warm spot in the bed graciously taken immediately by the furry yellow canine. At least she was cute, and really seemed to love Prompto. The cat though…

Grumbles was on the counter, studying him like he was a sample of deadly bacteria in a petri dish. He had the audacity to tell the cat not to sit on the counter, and in response Grumbles laid down instead.

He and Ami were made for each other.

He felt a gentle nudge on the back of his legs. Cor turned to see Daisy, tail wagging, eyes bright, completely unaware of the sour mood of everyone else in the house. At least somebody was happy.

“Daisy!” His son yelled while running down the hall, skidding to a stop in the kitchen while fumbling to get his shoes on.

“Woah, where do you think you’re going?” 

Prompto finally managed to get both his shoes on all the way, and held up the dog’s leash. “She needs a walk! Every morning, just like I said I would.” He explained, clipping the leash to her collar.

“Not by yourself, hold on, let me ju-”

“It’s okay, Dad! Daisy will protect me!” Prompto waved at him and guided the dog to the front door.

“He’s fine, Dad. I gave him my phone and told him if he isn’t home in ten minutes we’re calling the cops.” Ami dragged herself around the corner into the kitchen, still in her pajamas and looking half dead to the world.

“Bye!” The little kid yelped while running out the door with a very excited golden retriever in tow.

Cor pinched the bridge of his nose. “You really just let that happen? After everything-”

“He said he wanted some alone time to think. He was so weirdly serious about it, I figured he needed it.” Ami interrupted, folding her arms and leaning against the fridge. “Plus I enabled that GPS phone tracking app you got back when that serial killer was running around. You can watch his route from your phone. It’s...it’s fine.”

“Well,” Cor began with a sigh, “since we’ve got the time anyway, you need to get anything off your chest?” He pulled the app up on his phone and sure enough, there was a little icon showing Prompto walking around the block.

Ami shrugged her shoulders, not a hint of emotion besides exhaustion showing. 

“I don’t want to slip back into being afraid all the time.” She whispered. “When I’m scared, I’m mean. I say things I regret. I get violent. I don’t want to be that person again. And last night, I got really close.”

“I noticed.” She was pushing everyone away, crawling into herself, cursing and throwing blame around.

She turned to face him with an urgency he hadn’t seen in a long time. “I cannot be like that again, especially in front of Prompto.”

When did she get so tall? She was growing up too fast.

“I need to know that you are completely sure, that you’re telling the truth when you say he wasn’t there. That he isn’t...out there!” She looked on the brink of tears.

“I am. No one was there. Just that demon.” And that was the full truth of it. They found no evidence of any Imps staying behind. Their mission must have been to simply cripple their security forces, and prove that they could do what they did.

The fact that they also crippled the prince must have been a swell bonus. 

Cor checked the app; still walking around the neighborhood.

“So what’s different about this time? Back when I filled you in on the spies we caught, you didn’t seem nearly as concerned.”

“What’s different is the demon.” She took a deep breath. “He...his work had a lot to do with demons. They were all over that place. Not in like, anywhere I could’ve gotten to. But you could feel it. They were in there.”

Cor nodded. He vaguely remembered hearing an offhand comment about the MTs and the use of demonic material to make them.

Her hands started trembling. “I just thought...if the Empire was using demons as weapons, then he was prob-”

“You’ve got too much on your plate to be worrying about these things.” Cor wasn’t about to let her spiral like this. “The championship game is coming up soon and you can’t let these what ifs distract you. And you have midterms to study for, you need to get passing grades on all of them to qualify for their high school admissions. Don’t think for one second I’m letting you flunk out to public school.”

Grumbles jumped from the counter and sauntered over to Ami to rub against her legs.

Good kitty.

“I know.” She was noticeably calming down, scooping up the enormous cat to hold in her arms. “It’s just hard to...stop thinking about it. And don’t worry about high school, I could flunk every class now and they’d still push me through. Turns out being a jock has its, pretty terrible, advantages.”

“But, you’re not-”

“I’m not gonna flunk my classes! Geeze, Dad. You think my ego would let me graduate as anything less than top of the class? Seriously…”

The door opened again and in came a happy, panting dog followed by Prompto.

Thank the Astrals.

“How’d it go?” Ami asked while setting the cat back on the counter.

“Great!” He chirped, also out of breath. “She likes to run, so we ran a lot. It was fun!” He reached down to free Daisy from her leash. “Oh, also, watch this. She already knows a trick. Sit!” Prompto commanded. She did so, and was rewarded with immense ear scratches.

“Wow, at least someone around here does what they’re told.” Cor turned his attention back to his coffee.

“I want to teach her all kinds of neat tricks so when Noctis comes back he’ll be impressed!”

That was...a quick recovery.

“You feeling better then? Last night you were so worried he wouldn’t ever come back.” Ami asked, pouring herself a cup of coffee. Cor’s knee jerk reaction was to tell her not to, but what the hell, one cup wouldn’t kill her.

“Yep, I had a good talk with myself and we decided that Noct is going to be okay, and being upset wouldn’t help him get better. So I’m going to stay positive, and work hard in school, because I’m gonna make sure this never happens again by joining Noct’s crownsguard.”

Amelia made a choking sound, spitting her coffee into the sink. 

“Oh, you think so?” Cor asked slyly, patting his daughter on the back. “Don’t think it’ll be easy just cause your old man’s the one in charge.”

The boy changed career aspirations every two hours. By tomorrow he’ll decide he wants to be a dog trainer or chocobo racer. There was nothing to get worried about.

“I know! I’m gonna be so awesome, they’ll be like, ‘Wow Prompto! You can have your Dad’s job now you’re so great!’ And then you can retire and I’ll be in charge!”

Uh huh. 

“Oh, here’s your phone back Ami. I took some pictures!” Amelia finally quit coughing and took the phone, navigating to the gallery to see.

“Well, I’m glad you’re feeling better, buddy.” Cor smiled.

“Prompto, who is this person? She’s in every photo you took.” Amelia frowned as Cor felt his chest tighten. 

“Huh? I don’t know. I didn’t see anyone. We were all alone the whole time.”

“Dude, do you need new glasses? She was right in front of you!”

“Let me see-” Cor grabbed the phone and scrolled through. About a dozen photos of Daisy walking, sniffing at plants, looking adorably back at the camera. And in the background of every single one was a tall woman with black hair, eyes closed, smiling. 

Smiling like she sensed Cor was looking at her, and she knew something he didn’t.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> @pandalots on twitter if you wanna come talk with me about FFXV 
> 
> bramblepeltao3.tumblr.com head over here to check out the real life inspiration for Daisy :3


	9. Prompto is Nine Years Old and Got a Kazoo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I guess this is growing up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, quick content warning y'all, this chapter brings back up descriptions of child abuse that was mentioned in a previous chapter.
> 
> There is also a short reference to a past suicide, not by any of the main characters.

It was a cloudy Saturday afternoon. One that Cor was blessedly allowed to have off for the first time in many months. Being the head of the crownsguard when the crown wasn’t even in the country’s borders was an unfortunately interesting position to be in. Some days he felt like he’d somehow been put in charge of running the whole country, and the constant nagging and power plays of the council were never ending. 

But today his colleague and friend, Titus Drautos, head of the Kingsglaive side of things, told him to take the day off. He’d cover for him and make sure the wheels kept turning for one day.

He gladly took Titus up on that offer.

It was nice getting to just have a leisurely breakfast with his kids. The simple act of being with his family was becoming something of a luxury, and that was a road he wanted to get off of the first moment he was able. He couldn’t fault Regis for making the decision he had, Gods know if it were one of his kids he’d do the exact same.

But shit, this really sucked.

Sitting at the kitchen table, finishing his coffee, Cor was taken back by the sight of his daughter walking quickly past the dining room towards the front door. Wearing what appeared to be normal teenage girl clothes. A dress. And her hair looked...styled? And was that makeup?

“Woah, hey, hold on there.” He bolted up from the table and chased after her. “Where are you going, where...since when do you dress like…?”

“Like a girl? I dunno, look, I’m sorry I didn’t know you were going to be home today so I kind of made plans but I promise, it’s just for a couple of hours. I’ll be home around lunch, you’ll barely know I’m gone.”

“Are you wearing makeup? You own makeup?” He swore he’d never seen her wear makeup before. 

“Oh my Gods, Dad, it’s just eyeliner. And eye shadow. And masc-look, I’m a teenager now. This is what teenagers do.”

“No no no, no this is what teenagers do, but this is not what Amelia do. Does. I don’t think I’m out of line for being weirded out by…” Cor gestured vaguely in the air. “This!”

Amelia rolled her eyes. “I’m just going to hang out with a friend.”

A what? She was going to do something with a what? 

“Wait, you have a friend?” That did not come out the way he wanted it to.

Prompto peeked out from the living room. “Are you going to see Vic?” He asked.

“Yeah.” Amelia groaned.

“Vic? Who is Vic? No, hold on, you’re fourteen and I think I have every right to question when my daughter is spending time with someone named Vic.”

“Vic is really cool Dad!” Prompto said. ”Say hi for me Ami!”

“You’ve met Vic?” Cor asked Prompto, who nodded with a smile.

“At the arcade. We all hung out, it was fun.”

“Wait,” Cor turned back to the sulking teen standing by the door, “were you planning on leaving your brother home alone?”

“No! Gods, no, Dad I was gonna bring Prompto with us! But since you’re home, I just thought-” Her phone buzzed and grabbed her attention. “Vic is waiting for me outside, I gotta go.”

“No. Oh no, no, you tell your friend to come up here.” Cor was not about to let his kid run around with some stranger. It was bad enough he’d obviously been out of the loop a long time. 

“God, Dad, wwhhhyyyyyy are you being so weird about this?! I thought you’d be all ‘wow, great job my daughter, you’re being normal’ or whatever.” She whined.

“Tell this Vic guy that if he wants to hang out with you alone, he needs to come here and meet your Father first.” There. His foot was down. That should do it. 

But Amelia got a weird look on her face. It was the cat face. The face she made when they didn’t agree on something, and she found a loophole or a mistake or a weakness.

He hated the cat face.

“Dad, Vic is-” 

Amelia hushed her brother and started texting, “No no, it’s okay. I’m telling Vic right now to come meet me at the front door.” She finished texting, placed her phone in her coat pocket, crossed her arms, and leaned against the wall by the door.

Amelia and Cor engaged in a stare off. Prompto was giggling. Finally, there was a knock at the door. Without moving from her spot, Amelia reached over, grabbed the door knob, and opened the door, leaving her arm stretched out presenter style. 

“Dad, I would like you to meet my friend. Victoria.”

The teen girl on the other side stepped in and gave a little wave. “Nice to meet you, Mr. Leonis. Hey, Prompto!”

“Hi Vic!” He waved frantically.

“Alright, are we good here?” Amelia asked impatiently.

“Not so fast.” Yes, she proved her point, he was wrong to make assumptions about her friend. However, even if he didn’t know everything, Cor certainly knew his daughter. And the fact that she suddenly found someone who not only actively enjoyed her company, but Amelia also liked in turn?

That was. Incredible. He needed to know just a little bit more about this person who, he could tell by her outfit alone, did not know Amelia from school. The eyebrow piercing, pin covered vest, and pink dyed hair screamed ‘I do not go to a strict all girls academy’.

“Yeah, Ames. What’s the rush? Afraid your old man’s gonna embarrass you?” 

Amelia groaned.

Cor cleared his throat. “So, Vic. How long have you and Amelia been friends?”

“We met a few weeks ago at the arcade. Never seen a noble girl kill it so good at air hockey before, really gave me a run for my tokens.”

Amelia’s face was turning bright red.

“Vic gave me all her tickets and I got a kazoo!” Prompto added to the story. Ah, so that’s where that plastic torture device came from.

Alright, her story checked out. She seemed strangely nice and well adjusted. The exact kind of influence Amelia needed.

“Well it was nice meeting you, Vic. You two have fun, don’t talk to strangers and all that.”

Amelia grabbed Vic by the arm and started pulling her towards the door, but Vic stopped before crossing the threshold and turned back towards him.

“I gotta say, it was great finally seeing you in person, Sir. My Dad says you’re the reason he and my Mom got divorced and I kinda get it now.”

“VIC!” Amelia screeched. 

“I mean it’s not the truth, they got divorced because he was a bad husband, but I get it.”

Oh. They were the same.

Amelia, obviously not enthused at the taste of her own medicine, looked like she was going to scream as she grabbed her friend’s arm and made a run for it.

Well, meeting his daughter’s friend’s parents was now completely out of the question.

“Alright buddy, looks like it’s just you and me for a while. Anything in particular you want to do?” Cor asked as he closed the door rudely left open by his exasperated daughter. 

It was obvious these last few months of scrambling to keep the Citadel in one piece meant missing out on developments in his kids’ lives. He needed to pack in as much Dad-ing as possible while he could.

Gods he hoped Regis came home soon.

“Can we go to the dog park? Daisy hasn’t played with other dogs in awhile…”

The golden retriever, who was laying on the couch, perked her ears up when Prompto said the magic word ‘park’. As much as he did not appreciate the amount of dog hair left behind in his car, the dog park sounded like a relaxing way to spend an hour or so with his son. And it was really cute watching Prompto’s big bumbling dog try to play with puppies like she wasn’t an awkward full grown giant.

On the way between the car and the fenced-in park, Daisy found a stick and decided this was now her stick, and carried it the rest of the distance.

“She likes finding sticks on our walks and carries them the whole time!” Prompto explained. Sure enough, once they made it to the gate, Daisy attempted and failed at getting the stick through the door. After reluctantly surrendering her prize, Prompto let her off leash and free to tumble over terriers, chow chows, and corgis. She would occasionally run back over to where they were sitting with other pet owners on a long bench, wagging her tail with a face that said, ‘Did you see that?!’ before bouncing back into the fray.

“She’s looking really healthy, you’re doing a great job taking care of her.” Cor praised the kid who was busy snapping photos of the cuteness circus before them. He’d really taken to that little camera Cor had bought specifically for his birthday chocobo trip.

“Yeah! We take lots of walks and I brush her everyday before bed. And she knows a bunch of tricks now too.” He smiled so wide, beaming with pride.

Gods.

They were growing up. His daughter was socializing, and his son was making huge leaps in responsibility. And he was missing all of it. 

But this was what he meant when he swore his priority would always be the crown. He meant it then. He still meant it now.

Didn’t make it hurt any less.

“You two been going to the arcade a lot lately?” That little detail had stuck out to him. Amelia had always been a go to school, come home, don’t do anything else unless forced to person. And now she was stepping in and taking her brother out.

“Sometimes.” Prompto said as he adjusted the settings in his camera. “She takes the bus to my school when she’s done with practice, and then we walk home together. Sometimes we stop at the arcade, or get ice cream. Then we both do our homework and walk Daisy. Oh! Sometimes she lets me pick out a recipe and we make it together.”

Cor felt a stabbing pain in his chest. Of course he should take solace in the fact that he had a hand in getting the two of them to this point. That they were capable of getting through each day together while maintaining a healthy routine had to say something about his ability to parent. Like, at least a little bit had to be by his influence. 

“I’m sorry I haven’t been home much lately.” Cor sighed. Pride in his kids’ initiative be damned, he really hated not being part of it. “I promise I’ll make it up to you two once the dust settles.”

“It’s okay, Dad!” Prompto smiled up at him. “We know how important your job is. And Ami said it’s just for now, until Uncle Reggie and Noct come back…” His smile faltered for a moment, just long enough for Cor to catch. He’d been apart from his best friend for so long now. He had to be hurting too.

“I know we’re both itching for them to come back soon.” Cor started.

“Have you heard anything about Noct?” The floodgates were open and his happy go lucky facade slipped right off. The poor kid was desperate for some sort of update or reassurance.

It broke Cor’s heart all over again to give him the truth. “Nothing yet, sorry buddy. But hey, I think in this situation, no news is good news.” And that was the best he could give him. It tore him up just as bad as he could see it ripping apart his kid.

His King was gone, off to another country entirely, in a horribly vulnerable state. And he commanded those tasked with protecting him to stay behind. Protect the people. Wasn’t that just like him? Stay here. Protect Insomnia. Protect your kids.

He was trying.

At least Reggie had Clarus there with him. His Highness couldn’t make Clarus stay behind if he tried. The King’s Shield would be damned if he let his King just run off like that, no matter the reason.

Were Cor not in his current position, he might have attempted the same. Wouldn’t be the first time he tagged along without invitation. He put that guilt into making sure Clarus’ kids were holding up well enough. The Shield’s family had enough butlers, maids, nannies, and a wealth of other house staff to attend to anything the twelve and four year old might need.

During a barely wedged in training session, Gladio had reassured him that he and his sister were doing fine because ‘they were used to this’. 

Daisy padded back to them once more, placing her front paws on Prompto’s knees so she could  
reach up to lick his face. 

“Good girl.” He whispered, rewarding her with ear scritches. Satisfied she had done her duty, the dog sat back on the ground expectantly, panting heavily. “I think she’s ready to go home now. Oh, I need to work on my book report too. I haven’t picked a book out yet...can we go to the library?”

Cor gave him a pat on the shoulder. “Why don’t you look through your sister’s collection? I’m sure she wouldn’t mind lending one out if it’s for academic purposes.” He hoped she was being smart right now. He really wanted to encourage her sudden interest in being social, hanging out with friends, being a horrible bratty normal teenager. He wanted to encourage this healthy amount of independence (much healthier than the kind she held when she was far too young for it). 

But a part of him was always going to freak out about her running around the city alone. Her introversion had been incredibly convenient, hadn’t it?

Prompto opened the car door and helped Daisy jump in, climbing in after her, closed the door, and strapped himself in. It felt like just yesterday Cor had to learn how to get a squirming fussy baby into a car seat safely. Now Prompto was handling the entire ordeal all on his own.

His phone rang.

It was Clarus.

Cor took a deep breath and answered.

“Marshal.” He sounded out of breath. “Good news and bad news.”

“What’s going on, Clarus?” Cor leaned against the driver’s side door, not wanting Prompto to overhear whatever it was.

“Good news is we’re coming home. En route now, barring any complications we’ll be back in the city in five hours.”

He exhaled, rubbed his hand over his eyes. That was great. Fantastic. Except…

“And the bad news?”

“The Oracle is dead. Niflheim has completely overtaken Tenebrae.”

\---

“I can’t believe you said that back there.” Amelia whined as she walked through the door chivalrously held open by Vic.

“What? Sorry Ames, your Dad’s hot. That cannot be a surprise to you.” Vic laughed.

Amelia flinched. “Ew, don’t be gross.” 

“Haha, alright, I’m sorry! Come on. Let’s find you some actual good music.” Vic hooked her arm around hers and led her over to a table filled with cardboard boxes. Inside each was stuffed with compact discs, labeled used and new. The next table over was packed with records. 

Amelia had no idea how to even start. Music just...wasn’t a thing she cared about. It added mood to films, set ambiance in shops and restaurants, and made some of her classmates completely insufferable with their insistence that the noises they liked made them superior to people who liked other noises. But it was never something she sought out, she just didn’t see the point.

And when she’d told Vic that, the other girl refused to accept it.

“We are going to find something you’ll love.” She insisted. Maybe Vic just enjoyed taking on impossible challenges.

Amelia flipped through the plastic cases, scanning the album covers and artist names. None of these meant anything to her. She couldn’t even name a genre to whittle things down. 

Oh, but here was something. Not for her, this looked like the kind of thing Prompto would enjoy.

“Whatcha got there?” Vic leaned over to take a look.

“Oh, it just looks like something my brother might like…” There were three guys on the cover, dressed all punky and stuff like Vic was. Prompto had been very vocal about how ‘cool’ he thought her clothes were.

“Green Day, huh? Yeah, that’s pretty good for a baby punk like him. Don’t play it in front of Dad though. Oh, here’s something you might be into.” Vic handed another CD to her. 

“Garbage?” That wasn’t exactly a thrilling advertisement for the album.

“Oh yeah, every self loathing rebel girl needs that in her collection. Ooh, and this-” Vic seemed to have hit a jackpot as she continued to stack multiple cases into her hands.

“You’re just gonna have to trust me on these. They are all, like, completely you.” She did that little half smile thing that she did when she was completely sure about something. It was a very cute smile, especially when it reached up to her dimples highlighting the skull and crossbones earrings dangling to her chin and she was wearing that really dark eyeshadow that made her grey eyes pop even more and oh, hello Amelia, you’re doing that thing again maybe get back into reality and stop staring at your friend’s really cute face.

Walking down the street, holding the plastic bag filled with used CDs, Vic started opining about how much she hated history class. 

“It’s like, memorize all these dead guy’s names and these dates, but let’s not discuss why all this is important or how it had an impact on the world today. Nope, no critical thinking here. The standardized test just wants you to know what date the Galahdian rebellion took place.”

“July 17th M.E. 221.” Amelia said thoughtlessly.

“Woah...right, you’ve got that brain thing.” Vic tapped her on the side of her head. “Photographic memory, right?”

“It’s called hyperthymesia. Photographic memory just means you can recall something visually you’ve only seen briefly. Hyperthymesia means you can recall everything that you’ve ever experienced throughout your entire life in exact detail. Like you never forget any memories, ever.”

“Neat.” Vic replied. “So do you, like, remember being born?”

Amelia cringed. “Ew, no. It doesn’t work like that. It’s like, your ability to form memories doesn’t really set in before you’re three to five years old. So once that switch flipped on for me, it stayed on. I’m not the only person who’s ever had this, but it’s super rare. No one even knows what causes it.” And there certainly wasn’t any kind of cure, unfortunately. 

Vic whistled in response. “Pretty cool knowing someone with a super power.”

“More like a super burden.”

“Whaaat? No way, I’d love to remember everything like that. Just breeze through school, always win arguments…”

Amelia sighed. “Yeah it sounds cool in theory, until you realize the human brain makes things fade away for a reason. There are some memories I would actually kill to get rid of. Like, literally, I would commit murder to make them go away.”

“Hmm. Yeah, I can relate. Sorry, Ames. Oh hey, your phone is buzzing.” Vic pointed at Amelia’s coat pocket.

She checked the flurry of text messages that came her way. It was Dad, and Amelia was grateful he’d finally figured out how texting worked.

“Shit, looks like something’s happened. He wants me home ASAP.” By now she’d figured out the difference between his ‘I’m being a paranoid Dad’ and his ‘Shit has gone down get home right now’ tone. The urgency in these messages told her it was the latter. “I’d better get going.” She texted him an affirmative to let him know she was on her way.

“Awe, I think it’s so cute what a Daddy’s girl you are.” Vic punched her playfully on the shoulder. “Mouth of a soldier, temper of a behemoth, still comes running home when her Dad calls.”

“Oh, stop it.” Amelia rolled her eyes. “You realize my Dad knows state secrets, right? If he’s acting like this then you should probably get home too.”

“Yeah, probably. Guess I’m just a little jealous, is all.”

Shit, right. Vic’s Dad had walked out on her and her Mom years ago. And he stopped bothering with visitations last summer. Amelia felt a pang of sadness in her chest. Here she was with a Dad who pulled her out of Hell itself and had the patience of a Gods damned saint, and her best friend didn’t even have one who passed the basic decent human test.

“Sorry Vic, didn’t mean to drag those feelings up. We can talk later, okay?” Amelia made to branch off from Vic, taking the path that led to her home knowing Vic’s apartment was in the opposite direction.

“Hey.” Vic grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her back a few steps. “I didn’t mean I was jealous of _you._ ”

And before Amelia had time to process or react to Vic’s statement, there were Vic’s soft lips pressing against her own. 

What the fuck.

What the fuck.

Why was

What!?

Her face was hot. Everything smelled like that hairspray Vic used. She couldn’t breathe. Her knees felt like they somehow dissolved instantly and she was going to fall down the moment Vic let go of her.

Vic let go of her. Her face was as red as Amelia’s felt. Amelia instinctively started chewing on her lower lip. Wait, was that?

“Dr. Pepper lip gloss?” She asked.

“Ha! Yeah. I started wearing it ironically but turns out it actually tastes good. I...hope that wasn’t out of line. It just seemed kinda...right. Hey, go listen to the album in there from Tegan and Sara first. Let me know what you think.” Vic waved, her hand shaking a bit, before turning and running off towards her house.

Amelia was dumbfounded. She knew she had to get home, and soon, or her Dad was going to freak and get all the Glaive in the city out looking for her. But her feet just didn’t want to move. She touched her lips. Did she really just have her first kiss? Like, just like that?

And she didn’t hate it?

\---

Noct was back.

He was safe, and he was better, and he was back home.

And still, Prompto wasn’t allowed to see him.

“I’m sorry buddy,” Dad said as he was changing into his crownsguard fatigues, loud enough so Prompto could hear him from down the hall. “I need to meet with them and find out what the situation is first. But I promise, soon as you can, I’ll take you to see Noct. Where the hell is your sister?”

The door opened. There she was.

“I’m home, I’m fine, what’s up?” She said, without a hint of derision or sarcasm to be found.

Weird.

“Noct’s back!” Prompto yelped before Dad had a chance to explain.

“Oh. That’s great. Why did I…?”

“I need to head into the Citadel, we’ve got...there’s a lot to discuss. I just need you to watch your brother. I’ll check in.” Dad walked back into the living room, straightening out his jacket (the blood stains from that night were still vaguely visible, and it made Prompto’s skin crawl). “I’ll try to be back by dinner but just in case, there’s money for pizza on the counter. Keep the doors locked, remember, the news always-”

“The news always starts reporting before they have the whole story.” Both Prompto and Ami said in unison. They’d heard that from Dad a lot lately.

“Right. Are you okay?” Dad looked at Ami, who was decidedly underreacting to everything.

“Oh, yeah? I’m fine. Are you?” She asked.

Dad frowned at her. “Yeah. Yeah, everything’s okay guys, alright? No worrying. This isn’t like that last time. I’ll be back soon.” And with a hug and a reassuring pat on the back, he was gone. Just like that.

Again.

Prompto let out the most dramatic sigh he could.

“What’s wrong dude, I thought you’d be happy your friend was back home?” Ami asked, digging through the bag she brought in. Grumbles was sniffing intently at the plastic.

“Yeah…” He shoved his hands in his pockets. “But something else is going on too and Dad wouldn’t say what.”

Ami laughed quietly. “Uh huh, get used to that. There’s a lot of stuff he’s not allowed to talk about, and most of it would give you nightmares anyway.” She turned and handed a CD to him. “Here, from Vic. She said you might like this.”

Oh my Gods. Vic was so cool and everything she liked was cool so if she liked this then he knew he was going to like this too! He was so glad his sister finally made a friend and she was someone as cool as Vic…

“Hey, do you mind if I borrow your CD player? She told me to listen to this one first and tell her what I thought.”

“Sure-Oh!” In all the excitement and anxiety he almost forgot. “Dad said I should ask to borrow one of your books for my book report. Is that okay?”

Prompto waited for a reply only for his sister to continue staring quietly at the CD case in her hand.

“Helllooooooo Ammmiiiiii?” He waved a hand in her face.

“Oh! Yeah, sorry, what? What did you need?”

“Can I borrow one of your books for school?” He asked again, hoping he didn’t have to repeat himself a third time…

“Yeah sure, dude. Pick out whichever one you want.” She opened the case and looked over the paper insert inside.

Since when did she care about music, anyway? Prompto went to his room and grabbed his portable CD player, headphones still attached. It was super old, and he had a lot of fun figuring out how it worked and getting it to run like new again. He hoped they could go to that second hand store again so he could find a new project.

“Okay here, do you know how it works?” Prompto asked, handing it over to her.

“Seriously? You’re asking _me_ that?” She asked incredulously. 

“It’s a serious question, Ami! You’ve never used it before!” And he wasn’t about to let her accidentally break his stuff!

“You put it in and push play, right?” She asked with a smirk.

He huffed. “It has to go in right side up, and you have to slide this power button over like this. Then you press play. And don’t open it while it’s playing! You slide this button over here to lock it while it’s playing so it doesn’t open by accident. Got it?” He knew she did. She never forgot anything. But he wanted to make sure she was taking him seriously all the same.

“Got it. Thanks, Prom. Go pick out a book now.” 

Satisfied that she was doing it right, he went down the hall to her room where her bookcase was packed with mostly nonfiction and reference materials. But there was a small section of fiction books, mostly ones she read for her own classes, and some she picked out specifically to read to him. He missed that. Maybe he’d read one of those books on his own now, and he’d get it better this time, and they could talk about it.

He recognized one book in particular, he recalled liking some of the parts but couldn’t understand most of it. He remembered it involved some talking rats, and a crow, and a magic owl. And the rats escaped from some lab and the scientists wanted to take them all back. Yeah, he could read that one.

He reached up to grab it, having to get up on his toes (why was her bookshelf so tall and also packed super tight?), and finally managed to get the book he wanted to budge out from the rest. Unfortunately, he got a little too confident and ended up slipping, taking the book he wanted, along with a couple others and a stack of papers down with him.

Other than landing too hard on his butt though, he was fine. He went to pick up all the things he’d accidentally knocked over. He grabbed the books and picked up a folder with papers inside. He picked it up from the wrong side. A couple of pages slipped out. He huffed in frustration and bent back down to get them.

He picked up the top page and flipped it over. It had...photos. Of a little girl. Wait, Ami? It was Ami. But the girl...she was…

“You okay dude? I heard some-” He heard her gasp and in a moment she was there, grabbing the paper and the folder from him, gripping it tightly against herself. “What did you see?”

Prompto could feel his pulse pick up with a surge of panic, he didn’t mean to make his sister angry! Angry? No wait, she wasn’t mad, she was...scared. 

“Ami, are those photos of you?” He needed to know. She might talk in circles, or handwave some things, or refuse to answer some of his questions but this was serious. She’d been dancing around their past life for so long, and this was the last straw. He needed to know. He was old enough. He was ready to know what happened, what they’d been through to get them into the hospital where Dad adopted them.

“Ami.” He repeated, with a bit more confidence in his voice. “What happened? Why were you all beat up like that?” Those photos were disturbing. Imagining his big sister, littler than he was now, covered in all those bruises… It made him want to go back in time somehow and save her.

She slid against the wall to the floor, placing the paper back into the folder. “Prompto…”

He sat down next to her. He wasn’t going to let her talk around it this time. Even if it hurt, he was tired of being out of the loop.

“My...Our…” She took a steadying breath. “The people who made us....weren’t good people.”

Okay. This was a start. He put his hand on her arm, trying to comfort her. 

“...Mother abused me. A lot. That’s why I looked like that in those photos. And Father didn’t care. About anything. So I was alone and beat to shit and you were...neglected and I...I grabbed you and found someone to help us, and we ended up in that hospital. And Dad took us home. Shit, why did I think wearing makeup was a good idea?” She laughed while rubbing eyeliner stained tears off her cheeks.

Prompto gave her arm a squeeze. “So...you saved me?” He asked. That’s what it sounded like. And if that was the case she should be proud, not scared or sad. He wanted her to know that. “I was just a baby, and I could’ve died. But you saved me.”

Ami hesitated. “I had a lot of help.”

“Well yeah you were a little kid!” He shook her arm to kick her out of whatever self hate garbage she was stewing in. “But you decided to make it all stop. And you did it! You protected me.” He insisted she feel proud about that. She was a hero! But she just looked even more sad.

“Yeah.” She wrapped her arm around him, resting her hand on his head and pulling him closer to her side. “And I’ll always protect you, no matter what. Always. I just…” She hugged him tighter. “Sometimes I wonder if I could’ve done more.”

How much more could she have done!? He couldn’t wrap his head around her reasoning. Sure, she was always doing more than she had to, but in this case, she did everything. Even more than any kid her age could be expected to do. What wasn’t she telling him? 

“Sorry, don’t worry about me, k? All that stuff is in the past and it doesn’t matter anymore.” She let go and stood up.

But it did matter. It still made her sad and it was everything that got them right here.

Not to mention...

“What about the tattoo?” He asked.

Ami froze on her way to the bookshelf.

“I’ve had it since I was a baby, right? Why? Why would they do that?” It seemed a little over the top, even for abusive parents. There had to be a reason for that exact, particular tattoo. It was too well done, too specifically intentional.

She turned back towards him, looking down at his face with a strange expression he’d never seen before.

“I don’t know.” 

She lied.

His big sister just lied to him. He wasn’t sure how he knew, but he did. She never lied to him. Ever. But now...

Prompto felt cold. He just glimpsed a small piece of her she’d been hiding this whole time and it scared him. It made him angry. How could she? She could’ve said she didn’t want to talk about it, or that we could discuss it another time, or anything! Any excuse at all!

But she lied.

He didn’t know what to say.

“Oh, is this the book you picked?” She asked, picking it up and handing it back for him. “Yeah that one has...it has good themes. And there’s a movie version we can watch when you’re done, too.” She faked a smile. 

What could he say? There was a strong layer of trust he’d always shared with her, and right when it had grown even stronger a crack formed. He couldn’t be sure it would hold him steady anymore.

Maybe this is just what growing up was.

\---

She lied. She was the worst, shittiest, most awful sister who ever lived. Now, half an hour later, laying on her bed while Prompto had not so subtly cloistered himself in his own room with his dog and the book he borrowed, she’d thought of a hundred better ways she could have answered his question.

‘Like I said, they were bad people!’

‘I wasn’t there when it happened.’

‘Who knows what was going through their heads?’

‘I can’t talk about this right now.’

All things that were true. Everything up until that point had been true, from a certain point of view. She’d chosen her words carefully, giving him enough for a decent understanding but not enough to drop a bomb on his little head like the full actual story would do. She could have easily come up with a technically true response.

And instead she said she didn’t know, when she fully and completely did. She lied and he knew she did, she could see that heartbreak on his innocent little face and she was the worst. 

She knew what it was: a tracking and identification system. It was meant to inventory him and the others, like they were products on a shelf. Him and the others. The hundreds, maybe thousands others. Just like him.

Just like her little brother.

What would have happened if she’d stayed? The thought ate at her sometimes, keeping her awake at night. Could she have saved more? Could she have stopped it all? Maybe she could have grown up, learned all of that man’s terrible secrets, acted the part of a dutiful daughter until one day she could find her opening and then BAM! Patricide, or sabotage his work, or blow the whole place up, or something. Anything. 

She’d left for her own selfish reasons and behind, still fated for a hard and terrible life lived only for death, were so many more exactly like Prompto. They didn’t stand a chance.

She could’ve done something.

The album Vic told her to check out was playing through her brother’s headphones.

_No matter which way you go  
No matter which way you stay  
You're out of my mind, out of my mind  
Out of my mind, out of my mind_

Gods she wished that were her.

The offending folder was laying on the bed next to her. She cursed herself for never pulling the trigger and just looking through it years ago. She’d tucked it away like she could ever forget about it (what a joke!), she just could not bring herself to add more trauma to her memory banks. 

And now she was paying for it.

Not again. She was going to go through it and destroy it. What the hell else could he have seen? How close of a call had it been? Gods, traumatizing her little brother with photos those social workers took for evidence. Evidence for what? The offender was dead.

Well.

Time to find out.

Top page: photos of her beat up little body, taken from every angle. She remembered that day crystal clear. The social workers had been so nice, trying to reassure her that she was safe now. Nothing else of note.

Second page: her intake form. Nothing new here. Birthday, height, weight, etc.

Third page: her mental health assessment. She remembered every single answer she gave to all of these questions. The social worker noted her as disturbed, traumatized. Huh, she thought she’d successfully faked all the correct answers. That was the only new information here.

Fourth page: photocopy of a newspaper article, published a month before everything changed. ‘Pintsize Prodigy Has Picture Perfect Memory’. Right, she recalled getting her photo taken for this. The moment her mom realized she had something different about her, she’d immediately taken to milking it for attention. 

There was her old name, ‘Delphia Besithia, five year old child prodigy, seems like a normal little girl in dresses and pigtails. Until you hold a conversation with her.’ Ugh, and then the writer waxed poetic about how well spoken she was, her high school reading level, yes let’s all celebrate this kid who was destined for terminal burnout by thirteen if kept on that path. Nothing new.

Fifth page: Criminal investigation report. Yeah, because abusing a defenseless little kid was very much a crime. But...this wasn’t about her. This was about her mom, as the victim. Wait. This report implied her death was suspicious? But, she killed herself. That’s what happened. She gave up on her husband loving her and ever having the fantasy life she wanted and killed herself.

She scanned over handwritten details of evidence, possible timelines, suspects, the next three pages were paragraph after paragraph of crime scene descriptions.

‘Victim’s sister reported receiving death threats demanding she get rid of her niece.’ 

‘Call made to home of victim’s parents. Reportedly caller sounded exactly like their deceased daughter. Informed them they needed to surrender victim’s daughter back to child services.’

What the fuck.

The final page of the report. ‘Death ruled suicide. Discontinue pursuing leads further.’ Rubber stamped. Case closed.

And then, the next page, more photos. Photos of the crime scene. Shit, she’d never seen this. She had no idea. There was no way in hell this was suicide. She knew the Imperial government was corrupt as fuck but Gods, getting to see it blatantly in one stack of papers was heinous. 

There was something in one of the photos. Something small, almost missable. It looked like just some normal blood splatter but...no, it was intentional. It was an intentionally drawn symbol. It was-

How did she forget? The dreams, the books, the legends, how did she forget? Uncle Ardyn. Yes, he was there. He talked to her and listened to her and made her feel like a visible person. He’d taken her to that room and told her she had hundreds of little brothers who needed her. He helped her get in. He helped her find them.

He’d taken her to that other room with the massive chunk of marble and he’d shown her.

He’d shown her. Those little symbols in her head. They were etched in that chunk of rock, nestled in her Father’s collection of historical bullshit.

“You’ll find all of them, soon.”

That’s what he’d said. He said she needed to, she was special and she needed to help her brothers and she was the only one who could find them all and Gods her head hurt. She needed to figure out what these were, what was he going on about?

She closed the folder. She needed to get her Dad’s laptop, she needed to find out what these things were. She…needed to...what?

She needed to destroy this file. There was nothing in there. Nothing new. Dolores was wrong, but it wasn’t her fault. She didn’t need to risk her brother finding her old name or any references to her old life. There was a paper shredder in her Dad’s room. Yes, she’d use that and be done with it. 

And then she’d find the painkillers to get rid of this shitty headache.

\---

His King was okay.

His Prince was okay.

Clarus was okay.

A little worse for wear, but they were all here, and safe. He should’ve been there, he could’ve helped. He could’ve gotten Lunafreya out of there, at least. That poor girl. A prisoner of the Empire. 

The Oracle was dead. The next Oracle trapped under the guns of the enemy. The Prince of Tenebrae’s status was unknown, possibly dead. 

And that son of a bitch, General Glauca, the Empire’s answer to their own best of the best. He’d been there. Cor wished he could have too. Wished he could have finally met that man’s throat with his sword. One day, they’d certainly meet on a battlefield, and then…

“Don’t beat yourself up.” Titus whispered over to him, both men uninterested in the bureaucratic ramblings of the council. “You did what your King commanded. They’ve all come home in one piece. That was the best we could hope for.”

Were his feelings really so obvious to everyone? Or perhaps just his closer friends and colleagues.

“We could have protected the Oracle.” Cor responded. He wasn’t in the mood for his ego being placated right now. He had a job, he was good at his job, he wasn’t allowed to do his job, and now Niflheim had Tenebrae, and the Oracle, and who knows what else. 

“Or, Niflheim could have dropped a surprise attack on Insomnia while we were all protecting our King in Tenebrae. I’ll let you consider the ramifications of such a scenario.” Titus said before straightening back into his seat.

Oh, of course. Drop that in his mind. Let him consider whose life he’d sacrifice for the other: the King he swore an oath before the Gods to protect with his life, or the kids he promised he’d always be there to take care of. Great, thanks Titus. Like he didn’t feel like shit enough already.

The meeting adjourned. Regis couldn’t walk out fast enough. Cor hadn’t even been graced with a single word between them. He knew where he was heading, though, and Cor just as well wanted to go there too. He needed to see Noctis with his own eyes. The last he’d seen the Prince he was on the brink of death, pale and bleeding and barely hanging on. 

Cor needed to see he was better. Even if he wasn’t at his best, he had to see Noctis no longer had one foot in the grave.

It took a bit of a jog but Cor had finally caught up with Regis. The King turned to acknowledge his Marshal appearing at his side, throwing an arm around the younger man.

“We were away too long, I should apologize.”

“To hell with all that, I’m just relieved you’re home.”

Regis smiled sadly. Gods, was he ever going to see him happy again? Like the way he’d been so long ago, when they were young and reckless and the Regalia was their home?

“We have much to discuss once Clarus has seen to his children. Just us, however. We have...suspicions.” Regis stopped outside of the door that led to Noct’s bedroom.

“Spies?” Cor asked. Oh, he was going to grill every single person in his ranks if that were the case.

“Perhaps, and maybe worse. But first…”

Cor opened the door for him, and he watched as his friend’s forlorn expression turned to pure love upon seeing his boy. There was Noct, nestled into a bed too large for such a tiny frame. Pillows propped him up and a mass of blankets cradled him. Every curtain was opened, letting the bright afternoon sunlight shine through. A nursemaid was present, flipping through a clipboard of papers, as well as two of Cor’s own crownsguards keeping watch. 

There was also a second boy, sitting in a small chair right next to Noct’s bedside. Ignis, the Prince’s future chamberlain, confidant, advisor, and hand all in one. Another child, picked from the rest to carry the burden of the crown. And this boy, Ignis, he did it with a smile and determination that was admirable to say the least.

The boy was from a long family line of royal attendants, hailing from Tenebrae. Gods, this could not be easy for him. He’d lost his parents when the Empire first invaded his home, and now they’d done so again. That must have dredged up some awful memories. 

Noctis was busy speaking with Ignis, and the older boy was dutifully taking notes in his little notebook. As he and Regis made it closer, Cor realized what they were discussing.

“It was really fluffy, with a creamy filling.” The Prince recalled, making a small circle with his hands. “And it had chocolate.”

Pastries. They were talking about pastries.

At the end of the day, duty and responsibility and tragedy be damned, they were still kids.

“I will do my best to recreate it, I promise.” Ignis said, folding his notebook closed and standing at their approach.

“Good afternoon your Majesty, good afternoon Marshal.” The eleven year old bowed with all the grace and practice of a man who’d been in service for decades.

“Good afternoon, Ignis.” Regis returned the greeting. “Noctis, how are you?” He asked as the boy yawned widely.

“Tired.” He responded before shuffling down under the blankets and rolling over, his back to them.

Cor could see the heartbreak wash over his friend. He had to say something, maybe get Noct’s spirits up somehow.

“Prompto missed you a lot.” Cor said, taking a step closer. “He’s excited you’re home.”

Noct turned his head a bit to peek over his shoulder. “Can he visit soon?” He asked quietly.

“Soon as we can, you can bet on it.” Maybe even sooner if he could manage to sneak his kid in. Noct looked like he needed to be surrounded by as many friends as possible. As soon as possible.

The prince turned back over, head pressed into his pillow.

“He’s been like this since he came out of his coma. Tired, mostly. He’s still unable to walk on his own just yet.” Regis explained as they made their way back into the hall. “Noctis bonded so well with Princess Lunafreya, she was right there at his side most days. I don’t know if he’ll ever forgive me for…” He stopped, swallowing hard.

“He’ll understand. We can find a way to rescue the Princess and-”

“I will not put Noctis at further risk.” Regis said in that voice that cut the divide between the man and the King. “From now on we will focus on protecting the city. No more attempts at pushing them back, no more infiltrations, no more. My priority is the wall, and keeping everyone inside of it safe.”

“Your Highness,” Cor knew damn well when he was addressing his friend and when he was addressing the ruler of his nation, “what do you need from me. Right now.”

Regis turned to him, a hand on Cor’s shoulder, and a look of absolute sadness in his eyes. “Go home, and hug your children.”

He was getting really sick of his duties being blown off like this. “Sir-”

“It’s the same thing I told Clarus. Go home to your children, tell them you love them. Report for duty tomorrow morning, and we’ll continue this discussion.” Regis turned, and continued his walk towards his own chambers, leaving Cor behind him.

He did as his King commanded. He stopped at a fancy pastry shop right outside of the Citadel, made plans for the evening. Prompto wanted to keep working on their two player run of Mario. He and Ami could take in a late night B movie. He could put his mind out for a few hours and just be a Dad. Worry about Regis’ words tomorrow.

Upon coming home he was greeted by one pissy looking cat sitting in a plastic bag on the table, and no one else. “I’m home!” He called out. The doors to their rooms were closed, and he could hear some light stirring. But it was unsettling all the same. He had to check.

He opened Prompto’s door first, seeing his son sitting up against a pile of pillows and reading a book. Daisy popped up from her place at his side and wagged her tail.

“Hi Dad.” He said with zero of the usual excitement in his voice.

“Hey, doing okay buddy?” 

Prompto nodded with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes.

“Alright. I brought home some, uh…” He held up the box in his right hand. “Just, some sweets, if you’d like one. Whenever. You enjoying that book?”

Prompto nodded.

“Okay. Well, I’m here if you want to give that water level another shot.”

Cor closed the door. That was...weird. He turned to the closed door of his daughter, a much more normal sight. He opened it, Grumbles rushing in through the crack.

And there was Amelia, face down on her bed, wearing headphones, in the dark. Her cat jumped up and made himself comfortable on her back. Cor flipped the light switch on. She turned to face him in response, taking the headphones off.

“Hey.” She said, not moving from her sulking spot.

“Alright, come on, I was gone for less than three hours, what happened?”

She sighed dramatically. “Oh...nothing. It’s just that I’m a stupid fucking jerk who ruined everything forever and now Prompto hates me.”

“Okay, I doubt that.” He walked over to her pity party of one, picking up the headphones. “Since when do you listen to music?”

“Since everything stopped making sense.”

Cor put the headphones, still blasting music way too loudly through the speakers, up to his ear.

_Pour some misery down on me  
Pour some misery down on me  
Pour some misery down on me  
Pour some misery down on me_

“Well first of all, quit listening to this depressing garbage.” He said as she started to sit up.

“Garbage.” She responded.

“Yeah?”

“No, it’s just Garbage.”

“Yeah that’s what I said.”

“The _name of the band_ is Garbage. And I finally understand why people care about stuff. It’s because none of the stuff matters at all.”

Nope. Nope this was not going to happen. Not tonight, kids. No way.

“Get up. Put your shoes on, we’re going for a walk.”

“But-”

“Now, Amelia.” He walked back to Prompto’s room. “Come on, we’re walking Daisy.” Prompto also looked like he was going to argue, but Daisy’s excitement at the second magic word of the day knocked him out of it.

By the time he had his package in the fridge and coat hung up, they were ready, both looking completely dead to the world. Not acknowledging each other. Eerily quiet. Daisy was the only one in the house looking anything close to happy.

“Okay…” He put his hands on his face. “What happened?”

Amelia chewed on her lip. Prompto shifted his weight from one leg to the other. Neither one spoke. 

“Kids...come on. Ami, whatever you said or did, it can’t possibly be that terrible. Prompto, I know you don’t hate your sister. So just-”

“I’m sorry I lied to you.” She finally spoke up. “It’s just...some things are...they’re hard to talk about. And I panicked. I promise, it won’t happen again.”

Prompto had the most pathetic, hurt look on his face. “You didn’t have to lie…” He whispered.

“I know! I know, I shouldn’t have. I’m sorry I did.”

“It really hurt.”

“I’m sorry, Prom.”

Prompto spun around and threw his arms around his sister. “Don’t EVER do that AGAIN!” He sniffed.

“I won’t. I promise. Never.”

Shit kid, you know you can’t make that promise. 

“Alright. Let’s get some air and calm down.” Cor said, taking Daisy’s leash. The dog did her little expectant tap dance, dragging both kids just a bit out their misery. 

Their walk was filled with laughing, candid snapshots, Daisy excitedly meeting another dog, and promises of getting to see Noctis. Soon. Real soon.

It was like nothing ever happened.

Prompto ran ahead with Daisy, just enough to be out of earshot but still in view.

Cor had to ask. “Mind telling me what you lied about?”

She sighed, shoulders slumping. “He asked about his tattoo. I told him I didn’t know anything, but I did it all awkward so it was obvious I was lying.”

Fuck.

“Did you…?”

“I think we’ve reached an understanding that I’m not going to talk about that right now.”

Cor nodded. “Sorry to say it, kiddo, but you did the right thing. That’s not his burden to bear.”

“Yeah. I guess.” Her face dropped. Daisy stopped to sniff at a very large stick before attempting to pick it up.

“Anything else exciting happen today? Have fun with your friend?” He asked. Her face went red. She was chewing her lip again. “What? What happened?”

“It’s...it’s nothing just. I...um...I kinda…” She mumbled at the ground.

“Hey, you can tell me anything. Come on, what happened?” He really needed her to open up. Making and keeping friends was challenging for anyone, much less someone as unfamiliar with the concept of friendships as her. He wanted to be there to help, however he could.

Come on kid, don’t bottle yourself up now.

She took a deep breath. “Okay! Vic and I….we kissed.” She shut her eyes tight.

“Huh. Alright. Gotta say I wasn’t expecting that one.” He was expecting her to say they got in a fight, or shoplifted, or got busted for graffiti or something like that. “You’re really growing into a normal young adult, aren’t you?”

“Wait. So...you’re not mad?” She asked, still looking anxious.

“Why would I be mad? You’re a teenager. This is what teenagers do. You’re figuring yourself out. Just, you know, don’t do anything more than...well, just be smart and, do they still teach-”

“OH NO. NOPE, I’M NOT HAVING THIS CONVERSATION WITH YOU.” She yelled, hands on her ears, pace picking up. He grabbed her by the back of her jacket and pulled her back in line with his own pace. 

“Just promise me you won’t do anything you’re not ready for.” She was smart. And far more mature than she needed to be. That’s all he needed to know; that she wouldn’t fall to pressure and do something she didn’t want.

“Yeah. I promise. So, you’re for real cool with...you know…because Vic is-”

“What? Your girlfriend? Why wouldn’t I be?” Cor wasn’t quite sure how else to say it in a not mortifying Dad way. “You’re the same age and she respects you. That’s all I care about.”

Amelia smiled. “Thanks, Dad.”

“Did I hear that right?! Vic is your GIRLFRIEND?!” Prompto squealed, pulling Daisy with a mouth full of stick back towards them.

“Maybe? I don’t know, it wasn’t exactly clear...I should call her later…”

“That’s so cool! Hey Dad how come you don’t have a girlfriend?” Prompto asked.

Oh, nice, this awkward question. “Dating isn’t really my thing, buddy. Even if it was, between you two and my job, I don’t have much time for anything or anyone else.”

“Oh. Okay!” And off he ran again, not a care in the world.

Things started to feel a little normal again. As normal as things could be, with the threat of war looming closer, his daughter dating, his son flexing his emotional boundaries and all the unknowns he had ahead of him in the morning. Still, right now, in just this moment of peace, he felt a little bit of that comforting normalcy, and vowed to hang on to it as an anchor against whatever might come next.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey speaking of music, I made playlists that pertain to the different storylines of each of our main three! [ Here's Amelia's.](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1FaztYIFcD4IE6Mzpfgr18) It's mostly women singing about self loathing! Imagine that. But if you like to put together puzzles, there's a few hints on where the story's going tucked into some lyrics.
> 
> @pandalots on twitter
> 
> Bramblepeltao3.tumblr.com


	10. Prompto is Ten Years Old and Swimming is Easy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everybody shut up and get in the family therapy circle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Big shout out to @mysteriousbean for the day trip idea :3

“I’ve been having nightmares again.” Amelia said, comfortably laying on the leather couch in Dolores’ office. She usually sat up, on the right hand side of the couch. But she just felt like staring at the ceiling today.

“The same as before?” Dolores asked.

“Kind of.” She squinted, focusing on a small lump of dried paint in the otherwise perfectly painted ceiling. “But it’s different. Instead of being _back_ there, it’s like I never left to begin with. I just stayed. And now I’m fifteen and I just live there. And I feel...I don’t know.”

Dolores hummed in understanding. “Abandoned, perhaps?”

Amelia shrugged her shoulders. “Not really. In the dream, I remember choosing to stay. I was given the option to still go with Cor. With Dad. But I decided not to. I don’t know why.”

“What else happens?” Dolores asked.

She squeezed her eyes shut. “There was one dream where I tried to fight back. Against what was being done there. I sabotaged the process, somehow, I’m not sure. But I was caught, and punished, for daring to think I had come even close to surpassing his intelligence.” Amelia laughed. “Not for trying to sabotage his work! In my mind I’m punished for thinking I’m smarter than him, that I could get something by him without notice.”

Amelia grabbed her uniform jacket hanging over the back of the couch, folding it to place under her head. “But most of the time, I’m just...complacent. With everything. I’m numb. I prove my worth, I show what I’m capable of, and then I’m...part of the system. And I never leave. I’m told one day I’m going to inherit this...slaughterhouse. This factory of pain and death and everything that’s terrible about humanity and the world and I’m just….nothing. I feel nothing.”

“You accept the fate that’s been decided for you?” Dolores began writing.

“I don’t even try to fight it.”

“Well, that certainly sounds nothing like the Amelia I know.”

Amelia laughed. “I know. I know, logically, I always had another option. And I took it. And I’m better for it. I’m just...I worry sometimes that I could have helped. Or stopped it all. And I guess this is my brain’s way of telling me, ‘No.’ Everything would have been so much worse.”

“That’s very insightful, Amelia. Is there anything else about the dreams you’d like to discuss?” Dolores looked up from her notes.

“No.” Not for those ones, anyway. She had another, different nightmare that shook her just as much. But that one was newer. She’d only just had it last night, and wanted more time to go over it on her own before bringing it up. “That’s it.”

“In that case,” Dolores moved her notes aside to reveal a small stack of papers underneath, “why don’t we go over your assessment results from last week?” She asked.

Amelia sat up, cringing at the squeaky noises the leather seat made. Right, the assessment she did last week that took an hour to complete. 

“I want to start by thanking you for answering the questions honestly instead of what you assumed to be the ‘correct’ answers.”

“That bad, huh?” She asked, remembering how hard it had been to answer based on her own actual internal thoughts and feelings rather than what she assumed would make her look the best. 

Progress.

“Bad is a rather negative outlook. I’d say, it was enlightening.”

Amelia didn’t know what the assessment was testing for, exactly. All she knew was her incredible power to breeze through academia based solely on her perfect memory had been suddenly hindered by calculus. She needed to get top grades in that, among other classes, if she wanted to qualify for the Medical College of Insomnia’s dual enrollment program next year. 

Instead she received her first C, and didn’t stop crying over it in the bathroom for two hours. 

Until very recently she could finish her homework before getting home so she could help her brother with his. But now she would find herself staring at a single equation written on notebook paper completely unable to put together what she needed to do. Meanwhile, Prompto would buzz right through his work, finishing all of it before she could answer question one.

This was an unacceptable state of things.

She told Dolores all of this, since it was contributing directly to her decline in mental wellness. That’s what therapy was for: fixing the things that made her want to break doors off hinges and scream until her throat quit.

“Based on your answers, Amelia, I believe we may be looking at a diagnosis of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, or ADHD.”

Uh.

No?

“What exactly makes you say that?” Amelia frowned, feeling a bit of panic beginning to form. “Isn’t that something they catch when you’re a little kid? This stuff is all new.”

“Typically, yes, but sometimes it can begin to present later in life. Particularly with young women, such as yourself. So let’s go over the indicators now.”

Amelia did not want to go over the indicators. She felt a sudden need to stand up and walk out and go find someone to yell at. Like Dad. Or the King.

“Impulsivity.”

Well, she had her there. 

Dolores continued, going on and on with each named symptom feeling like a stab in the chest. These were all things she either always felt, or had begun to notice since this school year began. She couldn’t focus. She was fidgeting more. She took every word or action that could even possibly be seen as negatively against her as the end of the world.

This hurt. Immensely. Not least of all because, due to her past obsessive reading of pediatric health journals (hyperfocus, apparently is what that was), she already knew the prognosis for ADHD. No cure. Just medication maintenance and behavioral therapy.

Hadn’t she had enough of the latter by now?

This was bullshit.

“Okay, so, let’s say I agree and this is the issue. What next? How do I get over this, get back to my old self, and start acing calculus and organic chemistry? I don’t have a lot of time to turn these grades around.” She folded her arms. She already knew what the answer was, but she hoped beyond hope Dolores had something unexpected up her sleeve.

“Well, medication is an option.”

Nope. She didn’t.

“And Amelia, fifteen is a bit young for the courses you’ve been taking, regardless of your intelligence. Is it possible that perhaps you’ve overloaded yourself?”

Dolores was, as always, very well meaning but missing the bullseye by a centimeter.

“I need to take, and pass, all these classes _now_ to qualify for the MCI dual enrollment program.” The once in a lifetime opportunity to get started on pre-med courses before finishing high school and getting a jump on everyone else who applied to medical school. A means to bridge the gap between the growing need for medical staff and the current supply. Still, very few students ever qualified for the program.

She’d be damned if she wouldn’t be one of them.

“Have you considered trying to go about your goals at a more gentle pace? Perhaps finishing high school before taking college courses would decrease your stress and allow you more time to be present with yourself.”

No.

No she hadn’t considered.

And she wouldn’t, either.

“You’re intelligent, Amelia. And I know you’ll be accepted to any college you apply to. Whether you fast track it or even take a gap year. Just something to think about.”

It really wasn’t.

They ended the meeting with an informational sheet about ADHD, medication types, and ways to ‘cope’. She immediately placed it in her school bag, happy for it to live there indefinitely. 

Dad and Prompto weren’t there when she was finished. She couldn’t deal with waiting around today. Her chemistry textbook was at home, and she needed to study for tomorrow’s exam. She had homework on evaluating limits. She had that poetry collection to get through. There was that history paper she needed to find more sources for. And the group work. Gods, the fucking _group work_.

She pulled out her phone and started typing.

Ami: Where are you?

Dad: I’m working Ami.

Ami: Why?

Ami: Come on.

Ami: Can we please go now?

Ami: Dad.

Ami: Dad.

Ami: Dad.

Ami: DAD

Dad: No. Go to the library or something.

Dad: Or go see your brother. He is with Noct in gym. You know where that is

Ami: >:(

Dad: Business with king. Important. Go do something.

Dad: Will text you when done.

Ami: >:(

_Read, 4:37 pm_

Business with the king, huh? Well, as it turned out, Amelia now also had business with Uncle Reggie. And she had a pretty good idea of where she might find him.

\---

Cor silenced his phone and put it back in his pocket. He did not have the mental energy for Ami’s shit right now. And if he felt he could tell her why, she’d more than likely understand. 

Niflheim scientists were working on a new weapon. The ‘Godslayer’ they were calling it. A weapon to fell the Astrals. It was absurd. It was ludacris. It was impossible to kill a God.

The goddess Shiva was dead all the same.

They already managed to do it once, and still, they were planning to build a weapon to do it again.

Why?

Shiva’s death came with a seemingly unending blizzard. One would think such consequences would make them think twice about doing it again.

Apparently not.

Apparently Dr. Besithia had his own illogical plans. And Cor was going to figure them out.

For a moment, he had thought to himself, ‘Oh, I can get back in there and find out the what and why myself’ before remembering he was no longer in his twenties and also no longer a family of one. A young woman volunteered and was chosen for the job. She was trustworthy, and good at infiltration. 

They’d spent all day briefing the right people, and drawing up their plans for her to follow. Lucky him, he kinda already knew the place, and was able to consult on several key points.

And now he needed to let the man himself, Regis, know what was going on. Did Regis need to know every detail of every mission of every time a guard or glaive was sent outside the wall? No, probably not. Did he insist on knowing all the same, burdening himself unnecessarily with  
details that took up his time? Yes. Yes he did.

And that was why he was here, now, with Regis, Clarus, and Titus, going over the already agreed upon plan.

“She can get in from here.” Cor pointed at the hand drawn map of the facility. “If memory serves, Besithia’s personal workspace was on this floor. The freight elevator can make it as far as the floor below. From there-”

The door to the conference room cracked open, a crownsguard peaking through.

“Marshal, Sir.” He said, with an apologetic look on his face.

“What’s the matter, Wimble?” And it had better be a life or death emergency.

“Um, your daughter is here to see you.”

“Unbelievable.” He sighed as the culprit in question started pushing her way in.

Wimble made a sad attempt to put a stop to the teen’s intrusion. “Uh Miss? You can’t-” 

“What are you going to do, arrest me?” She asked, helping herself into the briefing area. Wimble was going to get shitcanned.

“Maybe I’ll have them do just that.” Cor said. “Ami, I’ve let a lot of things slide but this is a step too far. You need to leave. Now.” 

They’d made so much progress. They’d had so many understandings. She was doing so well.

Intruding like this was going from lighting matches to using a flamethrower. 

“Yeah. That’s what I tried to say. So why aren’t we? I’ve got work of my own to finish.”

Behind him he could hear the older men whispering, snickering. Ami could also hear, evidenced by her smirk.

“Please, I am begging you, do not encourage her. Amelia, I told you you were taking on too much. There are going to be conse-”

“One moment, Marshal.” Titus stood, a hand on his shoulder. “Didn’t your daughter live there for a year or so?” He asked, gesturing back to the drawn up facility map.

Her eyes went wide, smirk immediately gone.

Yeah kid, exactly.

“What are you getting at, Drautos?” And it had better be that she needs to leave and go join her brother and never come anywhere near this room ever again.

“It might be wise to have a second set of eyes check over the plan, is all.”

“She was five.” Cor turned back to Clarus and Regis.

Drautos shrugged. “What could it hurt? If she wishes to.”

“I do.” She said, pushing past Cor, dropping her uniform jacket and bag on the floor to lean over the table. “Yeah. That’s wrong. There’s no way you’re getting in there.”

“Mind elaborating?” Regis asked.

“That’s not the maintenance elevator, that’s the administrative access elevator. It’s password locked. Could you hand me that pen please? Here.” She started writing a sequence of numbers down on the diagram. “That’s the code.”

“It’s been ten years, you don’t suppose the code has changed?” Titus asked.

“Verstael doesn’t change anything unless it’s directly related to his experiment’s outcomes. Doing so takes up too much time. He eats the same meals, wears the same clothes, follows the same routines, and uses the same codes every day.” Ami tapped the pen on the table to emphasize each point. 

“Seems a bit risky to bet on, though.” Clarus said, rubbing his chin.

“It is, exactly. Which is why…” She started drawing, in pen, all over the diagram, “instead you should take this path through the ductwork. Get someone small enough to fit, oh and decent enough at climbing up a ninety degree angle, and you can easily make your way through, up and around. This area is low traffic, especially early morning. It’s easy to get in that way.” She started writing time frames down. “This is when he’s in his personal room for meals and meetings. This is when he rounds to check on his staff and residents. These are opportune times to get into this area, which judging by the little star, is where I’m guessing you’re trying to be.”

“And you’re certain that leads to Verstael’s work area?” Regis asked.

“Oh yeah. I only took that path myself about a dozen times.” She smirked, capping the pen.

Titus chuckled. “And how did a five year old climb at a ninety degree angle?” He asked.

“Easy, by wedging. Back against one side, feet up on the other, very carefully start moving up.” She pointed towards the ceiling. “When you get to the turn, push yourself backwards into it.”

The men chuckled. Ami shrugged her shoulders.

“I had a lot of time and nothing else to do.”

“Perhaps this plan of action should be considered.” Titus looked back at Cor. “If she’s correct, it’s surely safer for your agent.”

Amelia crossed her arms, looking back at him with that Gods. Damned. Cat face.

It was incredible. Every single time she made a terrible decision, acted on impulse, fueled by her frustration, she was rewarded. Every time.

And who does that sound like? A little voice in his head whispered.

”Now can we go?” She asked, to the unfortunate laughter of the other three.

“Amelia.” Regis said, gesturing to an open seat. “How old are you now, dear?”

She anxiously looked between Cor and Regis before taking a seat. “Fifteen.” She answered.

Regis and Clarus shared _a look_.

“So Marshal, when can we expect to hear she’s beaten the trials? Next year, perhaps?” Clarus chuckled.

“Haha. Hilarious.” Cor slumped back into his own seat. He got it. He got the point. She was exactly like him. She was a perfect mirror of the headstrong, know it all, overachieving, stubborn little shithead he’d been from thirteen to sixteen. It took a near death experience to humble him down.

Hopefully her breakthrough wouldn’t require such drastic measures.

“The trials?” She asked.

“Cor, don’t tell me you’ve never regaled your children with the tales of your exploits?” Titus asked.

“Exploits? You mean other than the one we were involved in?” She put her elbow on the table, resting her chin in her hand, looking around expectantly.

If she still wanted to leave, she had a funny way of showing it.

“When your old man was thirteen...”

This was going to be a painful evening.

\---

“Again.” Noct’s bodyguard commanded. Prompto cringed as he watched his friend slowly pick himself back up for the tenth or so time that hour. Noctis kept trying, over and over, to best the older boy in pretend combat and every time he went right down. He kept running at him, flailing his sword, focusing on hitting Gladio so much he didn’t pay any mind to his own defense.

And that continued to be his, quite literal, downfall.

“Again.” Gladio said to the prince grumbling on the ground.

Prompto had never had the chance to watch Noct train before, but Dad had allowed it today. And Noct was eager to show off, apparently. Maybe that was why he was making such easy mistakes. Maybe he was too busy trying to look cool when he should have been working on focus.

Prompto wondered if maybe Noct would be doing better if he wasn’t here.

“I’m sick of this.” Noct threw his sword aside, face turning red. “Come on, Prompto, let’s go.” He said as he began to take off his training gear.

“Giving up again?” Gladiolus asked.

Noctis replied with a snarl.

Prompto turned his gaze to the floor. He hated seeing his friend like this. Noctis just hadn’t really been the same since he came back. They were still friends, they still played and spent time together. But Noct just always seemed...tired. Even the days where he seemed to brighten up, smile and laugh, it always felt undercut by this exhausted sadness.

More than anything, Prompto wanted to help his friend. But he wasn’t sure how. Especially since anytime there was an opportunity to talk about it, Noct found a way to deflect or shut it down.

He just wanted Noct to be happy again, like he used to be.

“Hey, Prompto.” Gladio called. 

He snapped his face back up, certainly not expecting Gladiolus to address him.

“Yes, Sir?” He asked, straightening up.

Gladio chuckled. Noct sighed.

“Your Dad said you’re looking to join the crownsguard one day.” 

Oh!

“Yes Sir!” He straightened up as hard as he could. He absolutely super duper wanted to join Noct’s crownsguard.

“You ever held a sword before?” Gladio asked as he retrieved Noct’s wooden one.

Prompto shook his head. Not a real sword anyway, or anything as close to a real sword as that.

Gladio extended his arm with the hilt pointed towards him. “First time for everything.”

Okay. He could do this. Noct’s shield, Dad’s student, a super important part of Noct’s crownsguard, was offering him his first chance to prove himself.

He took the offered training weapon, much to Noct’s annoyance. 

“Adjust your stance, like this. Good. Shoulders back more. Alright, feel steady?” He asked.

Prompto nodded. As steady as he possibly could be.

“Alright, I’m going to swing in a downward angle. I want you to block me with your sword. Got it?”

Prompto wasn’t sure what Noct’s problem was, this guy was being super helpful.

“Prompto, you don’t have to do this.” Noct moaned from against the wall.

“Someone’s gotta protect your sorry ass, since you won’t commit to doing it yourself. Ready?” 

Prompto nodded. He was ready. He could do this.

He could prove he was worthy of protecting his friend.

Gladio swung his sword down. 

Prompto flinched, shutting his eyes, and faltering in his grip. Gladio’s sword knocked into his. Prompto’s elbows bent at the pressure, his sword tapping him on the forehead.

“Well, there’s certainly a lot of room for improvement.”

Prompto opened his eyes to see Gladio looking down at him with pity.

“You should get started on some weight training. Push ups, pull ups, that sort of thing. Ask your Dad. He’s good at putting those sort of plans together.”

He failed.

His first impression, his best chance to prove himself.

And he completely beefed it.

“Are you done bullying my friend?” Noct asked.

“It’s okay! Do it again!” Prompto raised the training sword back up. 

He was the son of the Marshal! He was a lion, just like Dad! He knew he could do this. 

“Do what again?” He heard his Dad’s voice coming from behind. 

“Gladio’s training me!” Prompto turned to explain. Dad looked grumpy. Ami must have done that thing again.

“I wouldn’t necessarily say that...” Gladio trailed off.

“Still determined to be in the crownsguard, huh?” Dad asked, stopping by Prompto’s side to ruffle his hair. “You’re still kind of young for that, buddy. Keep focusing on school for now.”

Prompto felt defeated. When Ami was his age she was fencing and playing with swords. She was training every day to get better at it. No one took him seriously.

“Yeah dude, you gotta at least wait until you’re...oooooohh, I don’t know….thirteen?” Ami said in a very weird way. 

He doubted Dad would let him even then. 

“Alright, time to go home.” Dad gave him a pat on the shoulder. “Noct, your Father said he’s going to meet you for dinner. You should probably get ready.”

Noct’s furrowed brow untangled and his eyes lost what little bit of light was sparked by his frustration. He looked sad. Resigned.

“Thanks Uncle Cor. Bye, Prompto.” Noct waved at him weakly and left.

Prompto waved back. “See you tomorrow, Noct!”

Gladio wasn’t too far behind him.

And now it was just the three of them.

This was his chance.

He took a deep breath.

“I want to start now!” Prompto was ready. He was going to put his foot down. He was sick of seeing his friend so beat down. He was sick of feeling helpless to do anything. He was sick and tired of being the baby in the family. “I’m old enough now. I’m ready!”

Ami, as always, was the first to say something. “Dude...ten is super young to be-”

“You were already in fencing and training with swords when you were ten!” Don’t cry. Don’t cry. Don’t cry. Don’t cry. “How come you get to do stuff like that, but I’m not allowed?! You didn’t even wanna do it!”

Ami just stared back at him, wide eyed, mouth open.

Don’t cry. Be serious. Don’t cry.

Dad folded his arms and looked down at him. “Keep going.” He nodded.

“Keep-?”

“You’ve got more to say. Go ahead. Say it.” It wasn’t a challenge or a warning. Dad was asking him to spill everything that was on his mind.

Well.

(Don’t cry)

Here goes.

“I’m not a baby anymore, I can do all kinds of things all by myself and I’m perfectly capable of speaking up for what’s best for me and I know what I want! I know what I want to do with my life. It makes me so mad when you guys treat me like a baby when I tell you what I want to do, it’s not okay that you both do that! Ami gets to do whatever she wants all the time but when I say I wanna do the exact same thing that Noct is doing too you act like I’m not capable of doing ANY of it and that’s not true. I can! I can do it but no one will let me prove it, you’re always Later Prompto, When you’re older Prompto, but I think that’s just an excuse and you don’t WANT me to do it. You’re scared I’ll get hurt but that’s not fair, both of you do things all the time that could get you hurt but you do them anyway and I don’t want to be treated like that anymore!”

He felt dizzy. He felt guilty for saying all those mean things. Being mad was so exhausting, how did Ami do it every day?

Don’t cry. Don’t cry.

“I just want to help my friend. He’s so sad now and he’s hurting and I don’t know how, but I want to help…”

Aaaaand he was crying.

Dad took a deep breath. “Alright. Everyone take a seat.” He said on the exhale, kneeling to sit on the floor. Ami looked confused, shrugged her shoulders and did the same. Prompto wiped the embarrassing tears from his face and took his seat in the family circle. “Prompto.” Dad started again. “You feel like we’re treating you unfairly because of your age. And you’re stressed because your best friend is having problems you can’t fix.”

Prompto nodded. That was a pretty good summary of his speech.

“Alright. Ami, your turn.” Dad said, gesturing towards her.

“Uh, what?” She asked.

“Tell Prompto how you feel about that.”

Ami squinted her eyes, like she was trying to figure out what Dad’s plan was here.

“Okay, well. I feel scared, dude. Like, believe me, I completely understand wanting to jump into the world and start punching! But I learned the hard way how bad you can get hurt and- Oh my Gods you’re trying to prove a point to me.” Ami said, crossing her arms and glaring at Dad.

Dad nodded. “My turn. It’s painful seeing people you love making the same mistakes you did. You don’t want to see them get hurt. Prompto, I can see the drive you have to prove yourself. And, you know what? That’s a good thing. I had that same feeling once too, but I took it too far, and I almost paid for it with my life.”

Prompto didn’t know what to say to that.

“Amelia, you have every opportunity to do anything you want in life. But you're using that platform to make impulsive decisions, the exact same way I did, and the only reason I still have my head on my shoulders is because your Uncle Reggie appreciated my honesty.”

Ami looked guilty. Dad leaned his head back and closed his eyes.

“Stubborness is a Leonis family trait, one neither of you are immune to. And we all have to take it from each other now and then. Like me. I don’t like thinking of either of you as grown up.” He looked back at them, poking at the side of his head. “In here you’re still the same little kids I adopted almost ten years ago. So when you tell me you want to start practicing sword fighting or overload yourself with college courses, I get nervous. I want you kids to chase after your dreams. But it’s hard, letting you make your own decisions and feel your own failures and successes. That’s how you grow, though.”

He ran a hand over his face.

“Just feels like you’re growing too fast.”

Prompto couldn’t really understand that. From his point of view, growing up was taking forever. Way too long.

“Okay, Prompto.” Dad said. “Your turn again.”

Prompto blinked in surprise. He hadn’t expected this to continue.

But, okay. He had this open opportunity to say whatever, and Dad and Ami would listen. He could say anything he needed to. What else did he need to say?

“I love you guys. And I know, you’re scared I’ll get hurt. And I know I will! I’ll probably get hurt a lot. And I’m ready for it. But I want to protect Noct, the way you protect Uncle Regis,” he looked to his Dad, then to Ami, “and how you always protected me. But I know it’s going to take a long time. That’s why I want to start doing whatever I can, right now. So I can be ready when he needs me.”

Deep breath. 

“And I wish I knew what Noct needed now. I want to make him feel better but nothing seems to help.”

And he’d tried so much! Talking about their favorite things, playing their favorite video games, being the happiness Noctis needed! He was trying, but none of it worked.

“Can I?” Ami asked. 

Dad looked at him. Prompto nodded.

“Noct’s got depression, dude. And that’s not something you can just make go away. He went through some serious trauma and that kind of thing messes with your head. It changes your brain around, makes you feel really tired and hopeless. You can’t fix his depression for him, but you can still be there as his friend, and support him. Be there when he’s ready to open back up, you know?” She reached out and grabbed his hand with a gentle squeeze. “It just takes a lot of time.”

Part of him already knew that. This was going to take awhile. He’d lost Noct for almost a year, and now it was going to take even longer to get him all the way back. But he could wait. He knew in his heart he could be the friend Noct needed, no matter how long it took.

“This is good practice, actually.” Dad said. “One day, Noct won’t just be your friend. He’ll be your King, too. And if you really want to serve in his personal guard, you’ll need to be there to support him in every way, including emotionally.”

“Really?” Prompto asked. He had no idea. He thought it was all swinging swords and fighting monsters, and the friend part would be kept separate.

“Really. Regis and I are close. I’m there for him when he needs me, whether it’s to consult on security and foreign affairs, or getting him to the hospital in a dangerously irresponsible way.” Dad cracked a smile. “That’s what being a crownsguard is. It’s a personal bond between you and your King. It’s an oath of brotherhood, that you’ll stand by each other through thick and thin. Always putting him first. And yeah, you also get to swing your sword around now and then.”

Prompto felt a little bit lighter. Yes, that is what he wanted. That is what he wanted to do, more than anything.

“I can do all that!” Prompto got up on his knees, suddenly full of determination again. It was bursting like a brand new star burning fiercely in his chest. “I _want_ to do all that!”

“Man, you really love him don’t you?” Ami asked, head tilted to the side and looking uncharacteristically soft. 

Prompto nodded. “Mmhmm.”

He really did! He loved Noct just like he loved his family and his dog. And he wanted more than anything for everyone he loved to feel it. To be engulfed in that love and happiness and feel just as warm as he felt when Dad made them cookies or Ami held his hand when he was scared or when Noct laughed at his jokes. He wanted to share his happiness with everyone, and protect them from everything that threatened to take it away.

“Alright.” Ami said, putting her hands up. “I get it. I’m still gonna freak out when someone swings a sword at you or you have to cross the street by yourself.” She smirked playfully at him. “But I’m...I’m happy. That you’re your own...fully formed person with your own feeling and ideas and goals and...I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to tell you how much that means to me.” 

“But you just did.” Prompto replied, making her snort laugh and rub at her eyes. Dad put a hand on her shoulder.

“Okay.” She said, pushing her hair back out of her face. “We really should be getting home now.”

“Not just yet.” Dad said. “And that anxiety on your face is exactly why.” He pointed at her.

“Dad…”

“Ami you locked yourself in your room for two days because you got a passing grade under 100 on a quiz. I know you’re not used to failure, especially at things you care about, but you’re not handling it well.”

Prompto sighed. Yeah, that weekend sucked. And it was the worst bookend to a week that had been full of watching her struggle at the kitchen table for hours. He didn’t know it was possible to get so angry at a blank sheet of notebook paper, but she really got into it.

What sucked the most though was not being able to help. He could get her medication for her headaches, and make sure she drank water and had a snack so she wouldn’t get sick. And he could keep Daisy occupied or play his video games in his room so she could focus. He could do those things, sure. But he couldn’t exactly help her figure out logarithms or whatever it was she cursed to the Gods above over.

He was just now figuring out long division, after all. Adding letters into math felt like a step too far.

“I have to do this, though. Only a handful of students qualify for the MCI program, and I have to be one of them.”

“Why?” Prompto asked. He couldn’t grasp why she couldn’t just do it the normal way. Why she had to put herself through all of that.

“Because…” She started, but couldn’t seem to finish.

“Ami, I want you to really consider who you’re doing all of this for. What you, and only you, stand to gain from pushing yourself to tears like this.” Dad pointed at her, his tone was serious but not in an angry way.

“I...I have to do better. I have to work harder and be better and end up on top, because that way no one can say I don’t belong there.” She gripped her bag in her fists, squeezing it close. “No one can say I didn’t earn it.”

“But they will.” Dad said. Ami looked horrified. “They will. You can do everything right, work harder than every person in Eos, be smarter and more capable than anyone else, and still. People will try to pull you back down.”

“But then…what am I supposed to do with that?” She looked lost.

“You can go to the arcade with me more!” Prompto offered instinctively. They hadn’t in a really long time, and they always had fun and it didn’t make her cry when she did poorly at skeeball.

“He’s right.” Dad said.

Oh. Cool, yeah, he was right!

“You don’t bust your ass for those people, because they don’t matter. You don’t work yourself to death to prove anything to them. They have no say over who you are, and what you can accomplish. And if you cave to their whims, the only thing you accomplish is giving up parts of yourself and your life in search of something they’ll never give you.”

Prompto and, seemingly Ami as well, were speechless.

“What, you don’t think I have my own detractors? People say I’m only where I am because I’m Regis’ friend. But I know better, and so does he. And that’s all that matters. If I wasted all of my energy trying to prove my worth to them, I wouldn’t have time to sit here, with you two, right now. It took a while, and I needed it to be hammered into my skull, but what we have, right here, is more important than the respect of people who never deserved to have yours.”

Woah.

“Maybe...maybe I can drop one of those courses.” Ami whispered.

“Think about it. I only want you to do what’s best for yourself. And if I’m off base and this is what you want, then keep doing it. But it doesn’t look like it is.”

Ami nodded.

“You should do what lets you play video games with me again.” Prompto just really wanted to get that point across. She smiled sadly in return.

“Alright. Let’s get dinner. Don’t stress about homework, you’re not going to school tomorrow. Neither are you. We’re all overdue for a day off.”

Oh. He really wanted to see Noct at school tomorrow.

But he hadn’t had a whole day with his family in a long time. He wanted that more.

“You sound like you already have a plan in mind.” Ami said nervously.

Dad nodded. “I think I do, actually.”

Prompto smiled. Dad’s plans were the best.

\----

Dad’s plans were the worst. 

What the hell did he think was going to come of this? Because Amelia knew exactly what would. And so far, she was dead right.

First, they had to spend a terrible amount of time buying swimwear. And while Prompto was happy to pick the first pair of swim trunks he could find with chocobos on them, way too much time was spent in the girls’ swimwear section. See, girls her age were already being pressured by large businesses hungry for money to dress for the male gaze (a term Vic had taught her).

Dad was pleasantly oblivious to this phenomenon until this shopping trip. He’d become increasingly distressed at the lack of ‘appropriate to wear in public’ selections. He was lucky they both agreed on that front. She’d finally settled on a one piece in very plain blue, and swim shorts with a floral pattern to wear over it. She would have preferred something even less conforming to her body if possible. Like an old timey diving suit. Helmet included. But they didn’t sell those at Target.

The next problem was all the attention they would be getting. Dad somehow still could not grasp that he was every bored Insomnian housewife’s fantasy. And now here he was, walking among all these young mothers who had zero good taste, and he was freaking shirtless! And these women were not subtle with their gawking and head turning and just blatantly taking photos with their phones when they should have been ensuring their children weren’t drowning. It was, to put it mildly, fucking gross.

Oh but Dad wasn’t the only one. Oh no. No no no, because of course not. Of course there would be truant teen boys running and screaming all over the place and _trying to talk to her_. ‘Hey girl, you’re looking fine’, ‘Hey girl, wanna hang out with me’, ‘Hey girl, let me buy you an ice cream cone’, ‘Hey girl, hey girl, hey girl.’

She wondered how hard it would be to drown one of them. Just push them under and let the Gods sort their fate out. 

And then there was Prompto. Sweet, innocent, completely oblivious Prompto in his adorable chocobo shorts and the little plastic fastener that kept his glasses attached to his face and the swim wings. Gods, the bright orange swim wings. Fucking. _Adorable._

There was nothing wrong there. And that in itself was what was wrong. She gritted her teeth and bared through Dad’s shitty fucking trip to this brand new shitty water park because, as he had observed yesterday, Prompto was growing up. Way too fast. And apparently her baby brother wanted to pick up a big sharp weapon and run around to fight bad guys with bigger, sharper weapons because Dad let him be friends with Noctis.

She blamed video games.

But the point was, she realized she had precious little time left to see her younger brother be a cute dorky kid full of passion for the dumbest things. So if she had to miss a day of school to watch him run through the play area with other kids, trying desperately to prove he could walk across those spinning lily pad things that were impossible to walk across, then she’d do it. 

But then there was the final problem.

“I do not want to go into the wave pool.” Amelia said.

“What? This is the most laid back thing here.” Dad said, pushing his sunglasses back up his nose. “You haven’t wanted to do anything today. What’s up?”

“Dad.” She said through gritted teeth. “I don’t know how to swim.” 

Prompto ran past them, happily jumping into the pool, held aloft by his squeaky plastic floaties.

“...wait, really?” He asked.

“Have we ever been in the presence of a large body of water before today?!”

“I just thought-”

“You thought what? Dad, what did you think?”

“You don’t do any swimming in gym class?”

“Do you know what we do in ‘gym’ class, Dad? We practice formal dance. And croquet.”

“Why didn’t you bring this up sooner?”

“I didn’t think it would be an issue!”

“You didn’t think it would be an issue? At a waterpark? Okay. Do we need to get you a pair of those?” He pointed at Prompto, who was busy having the time of his little life going up and down in the water.

“Did you just ask a teenage girl if she wanted to wear pool floaties in public?”

“Right. Look. Swimming is... It’s easy. You just, you go in the water and uh.... You just float.”

“Your method of instruction leaves so much to be desired.”

“Look, Ami, I’ve never had to think about it before, alright? I just jumped into a pool when I was a little kid and went from there. Here.” Dad took her hand and started walking towards the large incline leading into the water.

Once, about a year ago, Amelia’s cat Grumbles got into a bowl of macaroni salad and ended up covered in mayonnaise and pickle juice. Consequently, Grumbles had to be given a bath as it wasn’t safe to just let him (or Daisy) lick it all up. Grumbles had struggled with all of his might to avoid the fate of being dipped into the tub of water, filled to a level that barely reached over his paws. He had screamed, and snarled, and flailed, grabbed onto her shirt with his claws refusing to let go. At the time, she found the little act of rebellion sadly humorous.

She silently apologized to her cat, who as it turned out was a more willful fighter than she. The weird smooth flooring was slippery. If she pulled back she’d fall. There was no way to get out of this without causing a scene, which would put even more very much unwanted attention on them. There was no way but forward, into the cold and unforgiving wave pool.

They stopped when they reached her brother, the water level up to her elbows.

“See? Not so terrible.” Dad said. “Just wait it out here for awhile until you get comfortable and then you can go in further.”

“Yeah, that’s not gonna happen.” Amelia crossed her arms, watching as children even younger than Prompto swam with ease in the deepest parts of the pool.

“Swimming is easy, Ami!” Prompto chirped, letting the floaties carry him over the gentle little wave.

The water made it up to her chin, and she felt a little weightless for a moment. She did not like that feeling.

A quick, sudden burst of loud and playful music blared all around. From ahead, towards the deep end, Ami could hear a terrifying sound of metal scraping on metal. A few small children began cheering.

“What the hell is going on?” She asked, and was answered almost immediately as another wave began cresting towards them.

A much bigger, terrifying, well above her head wave. The last thing she heard before it came down on her was her Dad saying ‘Shit’. The force of the water pushed her down, her feet sliding out from under her. Up was down, gravity no longer existed, there was nothing but water and chlorine stretching on into eternity. Amelia’s short life flashed before her eyes in the split second she spent suspended in the Water City wave pool. 

Finally, just as she was beginning to accept her fate, she felt a strong arm loop under and around her. She was quickly lifted from the clutches of her watery grave, held safely in the arms of…

This person was wearing a shirt.

This person was not her Dad.

Amelia wiped the wet hair from her face and opened her eyes. 

The very nice looking boy with long tied back hair and warm eyes smiled as he put her back down on her feet. 

“You okay there?” He asked. “Those big waves can take you by surprise.”

“Uh huh.” Amelia noticed the big red plus sign on his shirt. He was a lifeguard. He was a strong, sweet, handsome, heroic lifeguard.

“Might want to consider wearing a life vest if you get back in.” The very cute boy said in a very very nice voice. 

“Uh huh.”

“Well, be safe, kiddo!” He said, walking back to the pool.

Kiddo.

………. _kiddo_.

“Hey, you alright?” Dad walked over to her, holding the hand of a thoroughly soaked and smiling Prompto. “Tried to catch you, but Prompto ended up kicking me in the face and uh….”

“I wanna do it AGAIN!” He squealed, fists in the air.

“...he called me Kiddo…” Ami was ready to find a dark hole to crawl into and stay there forever.

“Who? The lifeguard?” Dad took off his sunglasses to take a look at her guardian angel. “Well yeah, you’re a kid.”

He didn’t understand. Nobody could understand. Even she didn’t understand. All she could do was look up at him pitifully.

“Why don’t we find a less unpredictable pool for you to practice swimming in?”

And that was how Amelia Leonis, fifteen years old, confused about life and the world and her place existing within it, found herself learning how to swim in the toddler play area at Water City.

\---

Prompto rushed into the training room, full of energy and determination after his amazing day in the sun, followed by an awesome Saturday playing Mario Party with his family and getting to try curry for dinner. Everything was great. He was overflowing with pep, and ready to share those good vibes with his best friend Noctis.

Except Noctis was grounded, according to Dad. He had to stay in his room unless he was training. So there was a small loophole just big enough for Prompto to squeeze through. 

“Gladiolus.” Dad said, waving at the older boy.

“Sir.” He said back.

“Just dropping in. Thought I would see how you two are progressing.” Dad gestured towards Gladio and Noctis.

Noctis!

Prompto ran over, being careful to steady his momentum before hugging him so he didn’t put any undue strain on Noct’s back. It was still healing, and probably would be for a long time still. 

“Prompto, why are you so red?” Noctis laughed. Laughed! Prompto pulled back, taking in how genuinely happy Noct looked.

“We went to the water park on Friday. You should go sometime, it was really fun. Oh! We could go together!”

Noct smiled. “I’m kind of grounded right now.”

How incredibly bizarre that a Prince could be grounded.

“What did you do?” Prompto whispered as Dad and Gladio carried on talking behind them.

Noct took a peek to make sure the two were thoroughly distracted.

“I was framed.” He whispered.

“Woah…” How unfair! “By who?!”

“.........by me.” Noct sighed. “Gladio’s little sister was in trouble, and it didn’t seem fair, so I took the blame for it.”

“You protected a little kid?” Prompto was in awe. Even when Noctis was in a slump, he was still as kind and caring about others as ever. 

Noct nodded. “But now I can’t play video games or go to school or do anything for a whole week. And Dad says I have to eat carrots at dinnertime but I won’t. That’s taking it too far.”

Prompto liked carrots, but agreed with him anyway. He imagined being told he had to eat bugs for dinner, and used that energy to empathize with Noct’s disgust.

“I only get to leave to train with Gladio. But...it’s better now. I think. I’m probably not allowed to hang out for a while. Sorry.”

“Don’t be!” Prompto said with immense excitement. “I’m training too! Dad said I could!”

Noct looked surprised. “He’s letting you?”

“Yes.” Prompto felt a swelling of pride bubbling inside himself. “And I’m going to work hard every day, so I’ll always be at your side!”

Noct’s expression changed, something unfamiliar washing over his face. He looked like he might cry. “We’ll do it together.” Noct raised his fist up to eye level.

“Yeah!” Prompto did the same, knocking their fists together. He thought about how awesome they were at beating two player games together, the times Noct stood up for him at school, or how he’d helped Noct finish his homework right before the bell rang.

He would always have Noct’s back, because he knew Noct would always have his.

“Alright,” Dad called to them, “Gladio is going to take you through some basic warmup stretches. And then you’re going to start learning how to do a push up.”

Prompto tried not to show the disappointment he felt. Push ups. He wanted to practice with swords again.

“You can’t start running before you learn to walk.” Gladio said, likely sensing the slight change in enthusiasm.

“Yeah that…was not necessarily true in his case.” Dad mumbled. “I need to go see Noct’s Father. Do your best.” Dad gave him a pat on the shoulder. He was nervous, Prompto could tell. But Prompto understood why now, and he’d do everything he could to make his family see exactly what he was capable of, and they wouldn’t have to worry anymore. And maybe one day even, he’d be able to protect them just like they always had.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When I was a teen I almost drowned at the beach and was saved by a very handsome life guard who went on to talk to me like I was a little kid, and it was mortifying all around! Good times.
> 
> @pandalots on twitter
> 
> bramblepeltao3.tumblr.com


	11. Prompto is Eleven Years Old and Gets a Fancy Bowtie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You need to rest, to let it all rebuild. If you fail to do so, everything will have broken down for nothing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I put a general implied/referenced child abuse tag going forward because it is unfortunately tied to someone's mental health in this story, and she's gotta work through it to grow and heal.

Prompto fell to his knees, completely wiped out. He’d pushed himself harder than he ever had before. His lungs burned and his leg muscles were screaming in pain. Surely that meant he had to have beaten his personal best, right?

He felt the stop watch gripped in his hand. He had pushed the stop button as soon as he passed the chalk marker that signaled he’d completed the three kilometer run. But he was too anxious to check just yet. He needed to catch his breath first.

Gladio as well as Prompto’s dad had mapped out a ‘reasonable’ training schedule that included all of the physical requirements to qualify for crownsguard training, with the aim of him being able to meet those goals by the time he was eighteen. It was a very moderately paced, long term focused plan to get him where he wanted to one day be.

And it was taking too long. 

So he upped his goals on his own. The crownsguard trainees had to be able to run three kilometers in seventeen minutes. His mapped out goal for now was twenty five. He wanted to make it to twenty. He was running with Daisy every morning, and after school he would time himself on the track before going home.

Prompto wiped the sweat from his face and checked the little screen on the stopwatch. Twenty one minutes and fifteen seconds.

He’d somehow done worse by twelve seconds.

Suddenly his sister’s chronic angriness made complete sense. He didn’t _want_ to wait until he was eighteen. He didn’t care that Dad wanted him to focus on school first and foremost. He could apply to train for it as early as fifteen and he wanted to be ready even before then. Ami said Dad had joined when he was thirteen.

It wasn’t _fair_. He knew he could do it.

He had his weekly meeting with Gladio today, and he’d really hoped he could brag about his new record and show just how great he was doing. As it stood, he would just have to keep his mouth shut and try again for the next week.

His weekly session with Gladio went like it always did. Starting with warm up stretches, going through push ups and sit ups, and working on posture and stance.

It was dull, but he knew he was lucky to be getting this extra attention, so he tried not to complain. Dad said Gladio needed more experience training and motivating recruits. It was good practice for both of them. And truly, Prompto was very grateful that he got to receive instruction and help from the Shield of the Prince himself.

But he was _so rigid_ in sticking to the plan. And when Prompto tried to prod at him a bit, ask what he could do to improve his performance, Gladio’s answer was nutrition and sleep.

“Carbs for energy, protein for muscle growth. Sleep is your best friend.” He said it all so seriously like it wasn’t the most obvious and useless advice in the whole star.

Gladio was fourteen and already had so many muscles and could do so many cool things. Surely, there had to be some secret he wasn’t telling him. Maybe even something his dad didn’t want Gladio to tell him.

There had to be some reason why he still sucked so bad at sword fight training, specifically. 

It was already embarrassing flinching in front of Gladio. It was mortifying losing so easily at every spar with Noct. It was the absolute worst thing in the universe when either thing happened in front of Dad.

Prompto was feeling completely demoralized by the end of their session. He knew his sister was done with therapy and was probably waiting for him by now, but he couldn’t find the motivation to leave the gym. He wasn’t getting any better even after so many months of work, and in the case of his run time he was actively doing worse somehow.

And still, the only advice anyone could give him was protein, carbs, and sleep. It was truly so very, very frustrating.

“Prompto? Why are you still here? Didn’t your training end fifteen minutes ago?” Prompto turned his head and saw Noct’s advisor, Ignis, walking through the double doors to see him. 

Prompto jumped up to his feet. Ignis was smart, maybe even smarter than Ami. Maybe he could help him out?

“Ignis, I need some advice.” He said, trying to keep up a facade of being cool like Noct always did. It made Prompto feel a little less like he totally didn’t belong anywhere near these people.

Which was a silly feeling to have. He’d been visiting this place and talking to these people since he could remember. And his dad certainly belonged here, so why wouldn’t he? It was a weird, uncomfortable voice that nagged at the back of his mind. And he did everything he could to make it shut up.

“I shall do my best to assist. What seems to be troubling you?” Ignis held the door open as Prompto collected his bag and caught up.

“I really want to do better at training. But the only thing anyone can say is to eat this and that and get a lot of sleep. Dad wants me to take everything slowly, but I want to improve now. Do you know anything about training harder, Iggy?” Prompto asked hopefully. Ignis wasn’t like Gladio at all. He was more reserved, spoke in a consistently even and gentle tone, and always had really smart things to say to Noct. He had to have a different perspective.

“Hmm, that does seem to be quite the predicament.” Ignis closed the door behind them and began following Prompto on his familiar walk to his and Ami’s meeting place. “But I am sorry to say, that advice is quite spot on.”

Prompto deflated.

“Perhaps it would help to understand _why_ these things will help you improve?” Ignis asked.

“Maybe?” Prompto responded, trying not to let his disappointment show.

“When you exercise, whether it be running or lifting weights, you are actually breaking down your muscle tissue during the process.”

...what? What?!

“Eating a well balanced diet gives your body the nutrients it needs to rebuild that tissue. And since you broke it down by exerting yourself, it tells your system you need more muscle fiber. Now, when do you think your body has the time to accomplish such a feat?”

Prompto sighed. “Is it when you sleep?”

“It is indeed. If you don’t give your body time to rest, it will simply continue to break down without rebuilding with a sturdy foundation. Isn’t your sister studying medicine? I would think she could explain all of this just as well.”

“Maybe, but anytime I talk at all about training she gets all freaked out about me being in danger.” Prompto laughed. 

Ignis adjusted his own glasses and smiled down at him. “It sounds like she cares for you a great deal. I can empathize with the worry.”

“Oh, there you are!”

Speak of the devil.

“Dude, where have you been? We’re going to miss the bu-...who…?” Ami looked Ignis up and down. Prompto hadn’t considered that they’d never met before, despite how well he’d gotten to know him.

“You must be Lady Leonis.” Ignis bowed at her, and somehow his shirt didn’t come untucked or wrinkled or anything. He was so cool.

Ami coughed awkwardly and fidgeted with her school uniform.

“He’s Noct’s advisor, remember, I told you about him and how-”

“Yeah, yes, I remember. Um, you can call me Ami. It’s...nice to meet you.” 

She was turning red, why was she turning red?

“Ami are you feeling okay? You look kinda sick.” Prompto asked, concerned she might have a fever.

“Prompto…” She said through her teeth, side eyeing him.

“I shall leave you to your journey. Until next time, then.” Ignis said with a smile. “Remember to get plenty of rest, Prompto.” And with a short wave, he was gone.

They made their way to the bus station, barely making the one that dropped them off three blocks from home. After they took a seat, Ami let out a harsh, long breath.

“Why are you being so weird?” Prompto frowned up at her.

“You’re just lucky I love you so much.” She sneered playfully, messing up his hair more so than sweating and running already had.

It was the first Friday of the month, which meant Dad was going to work until at least eight pm. So they would take the bus home, get ingredients to make dinner at the corner store by the bus stop, and walk home. The dog walker knew to make an extra visit on the first Fridays, so Daisy was already tired out and well fed. Grumbles was Grumbles.

Prompto sat at the table with his science textbook. Ignis’ advice rang in his ears. But he didn’t want to rest, resting meant waiting. But it seemed, in the whole process of things, resting was also a productive component of the ‘getting good’ system. So then rest, he guess, he would.

Just as he was getting started on reading chapter eleven, and Ami was getting the cooking pots out, he heard the front door open.

“Huh. Dad’s home early.” Ami said without looking up.

“Yes he is. And he brought dinner.” Dad dropped a large paper bag on the table before heading back into the hall to hang up his jacket.

“Alright, what’s the bad news?” Ami asked, walking towards the dining room and leaning against the door frame. Prompto also felt this was suspicious. Dad usually called ahead the very few times he got off work early. And he brought home their favorite takeout? Something terrible must have happened...

“Got a call from your school.” Dad walked back in, looking at Ami.

Oh.

Prompto’s school had only called Dad one time and it was to tell him he’d made the principal’s list. Ami’s school seemingly called him on a monthly basis.

“Whatever it was, I was framed.” She shrugged her shoulders.

Dad grabbed a beer from the fridge and took a very long drink before continuing. “It was about that royal ball thing.” He sighed.

“Oh? You mean the one I’m not going to?” Ami asked, taking her seat at the table.

“Yes, that one.” Dad said. “The one that’s steeped in outdated, terrible traditions.”

“The one that’s based on a history of misogyny?” She asked.

“The ball that’s creepy even when it’s divorced from its original creepy context.” Dad took another long drink.

“The one where men show off their teenage daughters like prizes to be sold off in exchange for a land deal?”

Prompto felt very lost.

“Yes. That one. The one you have to go to.” Dad finished the beer and crushed the can. 

“Yeah but I’m not.”

“Yeah but you are. Your school said it’s part of your graduation requirements.”

“Okay but you can like, go talk to the Dean, right? Freak him out a little? Make him shit his pants or something?”

“Already tried that, got lectured on the ‘necessity of maintaining noble tradition in the face of such unending modernity’. So anyway…” He grabbed a second beer and sat down with them. “We’re going to the mall after dinner.”

Ami eyed him with a look of warning on her face. “Why?”

“Because we need to get you fitted for a formal gown.”

Ami simply stared, unflinching, unmoving.

“Can I go to the Game Shop?” Prompto asked, trying to cut the negative energy palpitating in the room. “There’s a new Pokemon game I’ve been saving for.”

“Dad.” Ami said through clenched teeth.

“Be angry all you want, Amelia, it doesn’t change the contract I signed. And yes, Prom, we can stop there but you need to get fitted too.”

“...for a gown?” He asked. He didn’t go to that school. That seemed kind of unnecessary.

“No for...well I guess if you...no he was pretty clear on the rules. For a suit. We’re both getting suits.”

“Yeah. Because it’s a heteronormative-”

“I know, Ami.”

“Cisnormative-”

“I know, Ami.”

“Blatant display of wealth and privilege by the nobility-”

“No one is arguing that, Ami.”

Prompto understood some of those words. “Wait, so it’s a party?” He asked.

“It’s a crime against modern standards of decent society.” Ami folded her arms, leaning back against her chair.

Dad sighed. “It’s a debutante ball. All the girls in Amelia’s grade level...come out into high society. So there’s a whole curtsy thing and display of courtly manners and a dance and...mingling...with teenage boys.”

“It comes from an ancient practice of marrying off noble girls when they turn sixteen. Debutante means ‘introduce’. We’re being introduced as marriage prospects. _For the Prince_. He’s eleven!”

“No one is introducing you as a marriage prospect.”

“Apparently you are!” She pointed at Dad accusingly. “And bringing Prompto too, great experience for him, normalizing this garbage. This whole thing is just another box the noble class puts on their heads to pretend the trappings of high society are fine and normal, so they won’t have to face the reality of what their wealth costs!”

“You think I don’t know that? You think _I_ want to do this? Amelia, it doesn’t have to be worse than it already is.” Dad started distributing the takeout containers. “I was very clear with the Dean we would only do the bare minimum requirements. You follow the dress code. You do the introduction curtsy thing, and the opening dance. And then we can leave immediately.”

“This is so messed up. We’re not even an actual noble family. This is exactly like February seventh in fifth grade when Christina invited me to her birthday party because, and I quote, ‘My mom said I have to invite everyone. Even the losers.’ None of them want me to be there!” Ami leaned across the table to Prompto. “You don’t have to go to this.”

“Is Noct going to be there?” Prompto asked. This was a vital component of the decision making process.

Ami frowned, sighed, and leaned back in her chair. “Yeah.”

“Can I bring my camera?!”

“No!” “Yes.”

Dad outranked Ami. He was bringing his camera.

Ami pulled out her phone and started typing fervently.

“No phones at the dinner table.” Dad said.

Ami snapped a finger up as if to silence him. “I think... I think I’ve been incredibly good. Like no issues for a very long time. So if I want to text my friend and tell her how horrible the patriarchy is, I believe I’ve earned that.” She said before going back to her business.

Prompto graciously took his curry from Dad. It was marked as extra spicy, exactly how he liked it. And it came with rice. Protein and carbs, just like Gladio said.

“Okay. Vic is going to come too.” Ami said, putting her phone down and reaching for the container of stir fried noodles.

“I...don’t think you can bring your girlfriend to the ball.” Dad sighed, bracing for the next verbal onslaught.

“Okay, A. I meant to the mall. Tonight. As emotional support. And B. We’ve been over this already, she’s not my girlfriend anymore. We’re still super tight friends, but we’re not like that now.”

“Why did you break up?” Prompto asked. He really liked Vic, she let him borrow her music and gave him neat buttons and patches. He was waiting until he could find the exact perfect jacket to start sewing them all on to.

“We decided we work better as friends….so now we’re just friends.” She shoved a forkful of noodles in her mouth. “Anyway, she said she’ll meet us there.”

So now they got to have a trip to the mall, he could get a new video game, Vic was going to be there, _and_ they were going to try on fancy clothes?! His sister’s negativity could get lost, this was going to a great time!

Shopping was the same thing as resting, right?

\---

Vic had to have been sent as a messenger from the Gods or something. The moment she met up with them, Amelia’s entire attitude turned around. Instead of a sulky angry mess, she was busy chatting and laughing with her. Dating or not, those two were a perfect pair. And the way Amelia just lit up when Vic was around was a relief. It was a reminder of how far the kid had come from a closed off self absorbed hermit into something resembling adjusted.

“Oh, you _have_ to try that one on.” Vic grabbed Amelia by the arm and pointed at a frilly pink dress on display in the window outside of a high end formal wear shop. One of the ones they planned to go to this evening.

“You’re supposed to be on _my_ side!” Amelia snapped, wrenching her arm back.

“I think the pink one would look pretty on you!” Prompto said in complete earnest. 

“It looks impossible to move in.” Amelia frowned.

“Come on, I’m sure we can find something with less...details.” Cor said, patting his daughter on the shoulder. He could picture her ideal gown easily: loose fitting, sleeves down to her elbows at least, high neckline, no embroidery or lace or beading or anything that elevated it. Nothing with straps or ties or lacing that required someone’s help. Something in a very plain color, like a darker green. Something that called absolutely no attention to herself. And it would probably be the only formal gown she’d ever own for the rest of her life.

Cor let the two girls peruse the dress selection in peace. He had a feeling his and Prompto’s purchases were going to be much easier. Granted, picking a little suit for Prompto wound up being a little difficult only because he liked every style and wanted to try them all on.

“Narrow it down to three, buddy.” Cor told him, and in response received the saddest looking puppy face. “If you want time to buy your video game we can’t be here too long.”

He was still mopey, but far more cooperative.

Cor, for himself, picked the first thing that met the basic standards of ‘formal suit’ that fit. Truthfully, he could have passed up on buying anything for himself as his own formal crownsguard uniform met the requirements laid out by that Gods awful uptight shithead Dean. But his crownsguard formal uniform was also detailed, and shiny, and all kinds of things that made it stand out. And he knew the last thing Amelia would want at this thing was to stand out.

While Prompto scurried into a changing room, Cor took a look back at the girls. Vic seemed like she was having a blast. Amelia looked distraught. He would let them work that out. He went over his mental checklist. He already had a belt and shoes that worked with this color. He’d need a new tie though. Cor couldn’t help but laugh at the banality of it all.

Hey thirteen year old Cor, you idiot, you really thought life was going to be all swinging your sword around and going on dangerous adventures, didn’t you?

In all fairness, thirteen year old Cor could not have foreseen a future that involved him raising two kids, either.

Ten years he’d been at this, and still felt like he was making it up as he went along. Yet somehow they’d managed to make this work. For a long time now, there was no question that these were his children. With Prompto that happened quite naturally. He did, after all, grow from an infant knowing nothing else (and never would if Cor had his way). Amelia’s road had been a bit rockier but they’d found a path of mutual support. Now he couldn’t even think about her as anything but _his_ daughter, and he’d gladly run through anyone who tried to infer otherwise.

Somehow this all came around just right. He couldn’t believe he had ever even considered the alternative. Thinking about the two of them being split apart, institutionalized, stuck in a facade of a family unit...the thought made him want to break something. The only thing in his hands though was unpaid merchandise, so better not.

Cor found a tie in a color that was good enough. Nearby were the neckties for juniors. He immediately set eyes on one that stood out as 100% Prompto. A black bowtie, with little yellow chocobo silhouettes. From a distance it simply looked like a black and yellow tie. Perfectly fashionable unless you were someone trusted enough to see it up close.

“Dad!” The kid in question squealed. Cor looked at the changing area. Prompto was dressed in a white button down, sandy brown slacks and coat, with a matching vest. He looked _adorable_. “This is so fancy, I feel like I should have a cane and top hat.” He beamed.

“One more thing, though.” Cor attached the little clip on bowtie. It didn’t quite match. He did not care. The Dean could suck it, as far as this was concerned. “You look great, buddy.”

Prompto smiled so wide. “I know! I want this one. It’s comfortable.”

Cor nodded. “Alright, we’ll get it. Go change back into your clothes, we have to watch your sister suffer now.” Prompto nodded before running back into the changing room. Luckily it seemed the suit was made with excitable little kids in mind.

On the other side, the two girls were still looking through row after row of clothing, but Amelia had a few slung over her arm at least. If she couldn’t find something she could tolerate, there were two more dress shops they could try for tonight. She’d most certainly pick something here though just to avoid that.

Cor walked back to the two, seeing Amelia making her way to the changing room on the other side. 

“Oh hey!” Vic called to her. “You need a pair of heels to try them on with, so you know how the dress will actually fit.” She grabbed a random pair and handed them over. “Size eight, right?”

Amelia stared at the shoes and scowled. Cor knew exactly why.

“I...don’t know how to walk in these.”

“I’m sure we can find something just as good without a heel on it.” Cor knew Amelia had never worn high heels before. And frankly, what were kids her age doing wearing those anyway? Walking around in those, an accident waiting to happen. They could injure their muscles. Trip and fall. She’d break her neck wearing those.

“No, it’s okay, I’ll do it.” She said to him before grabbing the shoes, turning and walking into a closed room.

...teenagers.

Prompto ran over to the seated waiting area, hands full of his new outfit. 

“Awe, look at that tiny suit. I bet you looked super cute in it, little dude.” The other girl crossed her arms and smiled at him.

Prompto blushed. “Dad! The guy at the counter said to make sure we also got the right socks.”

The guy at the counter was looking to up his commission rate, more like. But may as well take a look. Maybe it would be nice to treat himself to a fancy pair of soft socks.

...wow. He really was a dad now, huh?

“Hey Vic, why did you and Ami break up?”

Cor had not intended to overhear his kid ask, but the store was empty and thus overheard while looking through really overpriced socks he did.

“Huh? Where’s that question coming from?”

“I was just wondering since you guys are still friends.”

Yes Victoria, please explain in detail why my daughter wasn’t good enough for- Wow, where did that come from? He didn’t need to be that kind of dad. Amelia was capable of looking out for herself in that regard. She’d come to him if she needed his help.

...right?

“Oh. Kinda awkward...well, it’s like. Sometimes when you’re dating someone, you really want to do stuff. Like buy them presents, or take them places, talk to them a lot. You know? Things you do to maintain the relationship.”

Where was this going?

“So...Ames is sorta...hands off, you know? She didn’t like me buying her stuff or calling her a bunch and all that. Sometimes we’d go like a whole week without even texting and she didn’t see the problem. Which is fine, you know? That’s who she is. It’s just not what I’m looking for in a romantic partner. But I still care about her a lot. That’s why we’re still friends. Make sense?”

Hold on.

“I think so.”

Wait a minute.

“Your sister seriously hates when people do stuff for her. I thought she was just embarrassed, but turns out she just really hates anyone caring about her too much.”

That last sentence hit Cor like a brick to the head. He remembered the little girl insisting anything nice that was offered to her being handed to her brother instead. He mentally worked through a mountain of instances where she asked for the cheapest, plainest, least difficult thing when it came to her needs. And rarely, so very rarely, did she ask for anything beyond that for herself.

Hell, the one time she caved and let them give a shit about her birthday, Prompto hit the nail on the head when he suggested they have a nice dinner and cake at home and watch a bad movie. And now, in hindsight, the takeaway she’d mentioned later was how happy she was Prompto really liked the cake flavor.

She hadn’t changed at all. She was nicer, more reasonable, and actually listened to him...most of the time. But she was still rejecting anything for herself. She was still living her life for her brother. And that worried Cor immensely. Because she was showing interest in dating, and finding other people attractive. He didn’t want to think about the kind of person who’d be more than happy to take advantage of someone like her.

He wasn’t going to let that happen.

“I can help!” He heard Prompto yelp. He returned to the scene, seeing Prompto standing half outside one of the dressing room doors.

“He’s helping with her zipper.” Vic explained.

“Hm.” Cor had a moment now to ask her something important, weird as it was. “Vic. Do you really think she hates people caring about her?”

The girl looked up at him with surprise. “Well, yeah. She told me as much.”

“Wait, she did?”

Vic nodded. “Yeah you know, because of her mom and all that.”

Her-?

Vic wolf whistled. “Look at you, Ames!”

Amelia stepped awkwardly into sight, wobbly in those high heel shoes (there was no way she was going to wear those). The dress was...a surprising choice. It was maroon, with thin straps, and had some beading detail at the neckline. The way too low to be acceptable neckline. 

“Told you you could rock that one.” Vic said.

“You look like a princess!” Prompto chirped.

Amelia looked at Cor, shrugging her shoulders. “I kinda like this one…”

He nodded. “Then we’ll get it.” And a shawl too maybe.

“Hmmm.” Came an unfamiliar voice behind him. An older woman dressed in a sleek dress suit pushed past him and towards Amelia. She had a small bag attached to her belt and a pencil sticking in her very tight bun. “It brings out your eyes, yes, but it also makes your freckles stand out.” 

The woman grabbed his daughter by the arm and led over to a small pedestal. Cor frowned and followed.

“Excuse me-”

“It needs to be taken in at the back.” She started pulling at the fabric here and there. “Stand up straight, your slouching is making this difficult.” Amelia snapped up straight. She looked...terrified.

“Okay, no, Ma’am, we don’t need any tailoring done.” This woman had one more chance to catch a hint and back off. Instead she chose to ignore him completely.

“Turn.” She commanded, grabbing Amelia by the shoulders and forcing her to do so.

Amelia was trembling.

“HEY, get your hands off my daughter.” Cor got into the woman’s face, blocking her off from touching his kid. “I don’t know where you get off grabbing at people like that, but you will not go near her again.”

The woman scoffed. _Scoffed_ at him. She opened her mouth ready to argue, but Cor didn’t give a shit what she had to say. He turned back to check on Amelia, who had her feet back on the ground and held securely by her friend. Vic had her arms around her back, looking up at Cor for instructions. Prompto had his hands on his hips, glaring at the woman in a very good impression of Cor himself.

A salesman was there in a moment, obviously desperate to keep the very large sale he could see flying out the door right in front of him. He rushed the seamstress away and was quick to offer discounts, free socks, anything to keep that money. If it weren’t for the fact that Amelia, once calm and back in her own clothes, insisted she still wanted the dress he wouldn’t have even bothered with the store another moment longer.

“Come on, we have just enough time to get that game you wanted.” Amelia said to her little brother, who was still completely squared up and ready to fight anyone who grabbed her like that again.

She was suppressing her feelings. She was burying what just happened, and played it off for her brother’s sake. She was emotionally exactly where she was ten years ago. 

They needed to have a talk.

\---

Amelia knew they were going to have a talk. She cursed herself for reacting the way she did. Why didn’t she just yell at that rude old lady? She could have just been an asshole right back and it would have stayed in character and everything would go right back to normal.

Nope. She had to open up that little memory safe and drag the past back into the present. That woman just sounded so much like her mother, barking the same orders she once had. Amelia really, truly felt she had been ripped back to being five years old. Stuck in terrified shock that if she put one toe out of place she’d get to curse the Gods in person before morning.

She was very, very grateful her dad yelled at that woman. The sound of someone intervening on her behalf, well that had simply never happened back then. It wrenched her back into the present and helped ground her.

Still, the safe was open again. She’d gotten very, very good at cordoning off chunks of time she didn’t care for and sticking them away. If she didn’t think about it, she didn’t have to relive it. Like she did every other day of her life. Every day. In stark detail. 

How the hell was she supposed to ‘heal’ and move on when ten years ago felt like yesterday? 

Yesterday she is five years old and it hurts to breathe in that heavy dress. Her head is sore from the ridiculous amount of time spent handling it and forcing it into unnatural styled elegance. Her mother warns her, if she says even one word about the bruises cleverly hidden by the long sleeves, even one little utterance to her guests, she will leave her outside in the night and let the demons take her.

At sixteen she could still feel the bruises.

She’s five and she remembers one wrong note, a key on the piano she did not press herself but it does not matter. Her mother surely heard it. And she will pay the price later.

She could still hear it, that sudden unexpected chime that lasted a second but the fear it put in her lasted for hours.

She didn’t want to talk about it.

She could go right to bed, say she was exhausted. No one would blame her. Not after everything that happened. But the talk was going to happen. She just had to go and get herself into a family that cared about her. A dad who wanted to help. 

She’s ten years old and calling him dad and there’s a sense of hope that deep down this time it would stick.

The longer she put off this talk, the longer it would be before she could shove everything back into the safe and lock it until the next little noise jimmied the door back open.

So she waited at the table as her brother gave her a very possessive hug (it was cute how he thought he could fight off her demons) and saw himself to bed. She waited as her dad took two bags of tea from a box with a cartoon moogle sleeping in a large arm chair, poured hot water into two mugs and placed one in front of her. He sat across from her. It’s where they always sat at dinner. Prompto to her left, Dad’s right. The glue that forced this little unit to keep sticking together all this time. 

Dad opened his mouth. Panic surged through her veins and settled like acid in her stomach. She didn’t want to talk about it.

“I’m fine.” She said, cutting off whatever he had to say.

“You’re not.” He replied. 

“Force of habit.” She took a sip of the chamomile tea, settled her breathing. This talk was going to happen.

“That’s what I wanted to talk about.” Yeah, she knew he did. “Did you actually want that dress?” He asked. She looked confused. “It was the first one you tried on. Did you actually like it, or did you want to get out of there before the video game shop closed?”

She opened her mouth, closed it. Frowned. Looked at the table. How was she supposed to say she didn’t know?

“Vic said you don’t like people caring about you too much.”

It’s April the twenty second at three thirty two in the afternoon. Her girlfriend is fed up with her. She said she wants to do something nice for Amelia’s birthday. Amelia insisted she not. So now they’re fighting and Vic accuses her of not letting anyone in close enough to really care.

“I told Vic I didn’t want presents, and she took it the wrong way. I don’t care about...things.” She shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t see the point in wanting anything more than what you need to get by.”

“But you do.” He insisted. “If you didn’t, you wouldn’t put so much emphasis on Prompto having nice things that he enjoys.” He sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. 

He was picking his next words carefully, and that made her feel even more miserably anxious.

“I know...what you and your therapist talk about is between you. But...I thought maybe...if there was something serious. Something I could…Your friend mentioned something about...your mom?” He looked at her, silently asking her to pick up the conversation there. Give him an explanation. Did he really think he could make this go away? That was real nice of him. He was a pretty great dad.

She didn’t deserve it.

She’s fifteen on a Saturday in January and Vic’s mom walks through the front door, cell phone held to her ear by her left shoulder while juggling grocery bags. She’s screaming at the person on the other end- Vic’s dad. Vic’s mom is screaming at him for failing to pay child support again. It has absolutely nothing to do with Amelia but she breaks down all the same. And now Vic needs an explanation so she tells her. She tells her enough to make her reaction understandable. She leaves out the parts about Gralea, the mansion, the expensive clothing and grandiose parties. 

“Yeah. My mom beat me.” Amelia said quietly. Let’s get to the point and move on. “But that was a long time ago.” She shrugged her shoulders. It shouldn’t matter anymore. If she can push it back into the safe it won’t.

And the man across the table, who spent years putting up with her bullshit and cruel words and had every reason in the star to drop her off somewhere far away but still called her his daughter, leaned back in his chair. His shoulders slumped and his face twisted into something she’d seen before.

She’s thirteen years old standing dumbfounded in the living room at two in the morning and she’s watching her dad cry for the first time.

“She..? Was it...one time or…?” His crossed his arms, she could see his veins popping in his throat. His face was turning red. She realized despite everything his anger never once scared her. Even when he was upset with her. Not once did she feel fear the way she did when her mother simply looked at her.

“A lot. Any time I was ungrateful or disobedient.” 

He nodded. “And no one stopped her?” He asked, those frown lines that she was certainly at least a little responsible for deepening.

Amelia thought about it. No, no one had. There were service staff, people who maintained the estate. They could see and hear everything. They knew what was happening. But the pay was too good, so they would pretend their eyes and ears were playing tricks on them. No one ever stuck up for her.

Except…

She’s five years old and from the corner of her eye she can see the finger of the person who played the wrong note on her behalf.

“No. She got away with it until she died.” Amelia took another sip. Across from her, he was shaking.

“I’m sorry.” he whispered as he stood up and left the room. She heard the front door open and close. Amelia sat there in stunned silence, the warm mug still cupped in her hands. She wondered if she should follow and see what the hell that was about. By now she expected some kind of level headed coaching family therapy back and forth thing. She expected him to maybe be a little upset she hadn’t ever told him any of this. But this...this was new.

Amelia wasn’t sure what to do. So she stayed, and in the silence, she picked at a memory that was halfway outside of the safe.

She’s five years old and the man who just threw an imperfection into her performance takes a seat next to her on the bench. 

“That song is rather dull, is it not?” He asks. She wants to tell him exactly what he just did. That he screwed up her desperate attempt to be perfect this evening and now, it’s ruined. But she can’t say anything, because if she does it’ll be even worse. “Why don’t we liven things up a bit more?” 

The man stretches his arms out, puts his fingers to the keys, and begins to play. It’s a song she’s never heard before, in a key she isn’t used to. It sounds like sunshine, and happy days full of sweet smelling flowers and a bright, clear lake to sit by and eat a perfect lunch. The song must surely have lyrics as well, because the man is humming something that goes along well with the melody. She finds herself smiling because she feels like it. Not forced.

It’s the nicest she’s felt in a long time. The few guests standing around applaud quietly before meandering back to their own little worlds.

“How dreadfully cruel.” He sighs. “For sorrowful music to play from such small fingers.”

The man places a gentle hand on her arm and she flinches. She didn’t mean to, but it was noticeable. He frowns at her, places one finger at the cuff of her sleeve and lifts it. Just enough to get a peak of the visible evidence. She really should stop him. But she stupidly still has a little hope that someone, anyone, will come and save her. So she looks at him, silently pleading: _please don’t say anything_.

She doesn’t have to say it out loud, he seems to understand. He makes a tutting sound with his tongue, letting her sleeve fall back and cover it all up again.

“Well, that simply will not do.” He says, pointing a finger in her face.

Amelia realized she’d been sitting there alone for awhile, and began to feel a little awkward. Right as she was thinking of standing up and checking on him, her dad opened the front door again and came back to the dining room table. He sat down, hands in his lap but she was able to get a quick glimpse of how beat up his knuckles were.

“I’m sorry.” He repeated. “I’m just...I’m sorry you didn’t feel like you could tell me.”

No. Oh no, no no that was the _wrong_ takeaway.

“No, it’s not- it’s not that I didn’t think I could-Of course I could, it’s just...it shouldn’t matter! Right? I’m...safe! I’m safe, and I’m getting therapy and everything’s going perfect for me so these things that happened _shouldn’t matter_.” 

“You know you can talk about any of this stuff...right?” He asked. He looked _so damn hurt_ and she wanted more than anything to make that stop.

“Yeah, but I don’t want to! Like...I remember every single day of my life in complete detail. All at the same time. But if I don’t think about...certain parts of it, I can like, push those memories into a little box and not experience them. Talking about it makes me relive it again. Like it just happened.” She took a sharp inhale and laughed in an exhale. “Plus it’s stupid! She’s been dead for so long. And no one has come even close to treating me like that. I just need to get over it.”

“I’ve got bad news, kid.” He said, voice dripping with exhaustion. “It’s been twenty years since I faced Gilgamesh. And I still have nightmares about it. In fact, there’s a certain scratching sound, if I hear it suddenly, I get full of adrenaline, and it feels like I can’t breathe.” 

“You have panic attacks?” She asked. He was damn good at hiding them, then.

“...I hadn’t exactly thought about it that way before but...yeah. Yeah, guess I do. My point is these things stick with you. There is no _getting over it_. You live with the bad shit. Sometimes it’s your own bad choices, but most of the time it’s someone else’s. You can learn how to live with it, come to terms with it, work through the worst of it. But there is no getting over it. Ami, it all stays, but you don’t have to get through it alone.” He smirked a little bit. “That’s kind of the entire point of being a family, right? Nobody goes through their shit alone.”

“Okay.” She nodded. Well, it was on the table now. There was no point in dancing around it. If he wanted to carry her burden that bad...“Today, when that woman grabbed me, and barked all of those commands, it reminded me of...my mother. The way she used to threaten me and get angry if I moved too much or my dress didn’t fit right.”

“You were a _kid_!” He said, obviously a little louder than he’d meant as he lowered his voice. “You were a growing kid, and she got mad at you for doing what kids do?”

Amelia couldn’t help but laugh a little. “I wasn’t a kid to her. More like...a doll. I guess. An object.”

He just shook his head.

“I was good for parading around at her many, many parties to show off. That’s about it.” She snorted. “Like I was a dog that could do tricks.”

“Okay.” He said, still shaking his head, biting his lip. “Okay, you’re no-we’re not going to that stupid ball.”

She blinked. 

“I’m not putting you through that. Fuck them.” He rubbed his hands over his face, accidentally displaying the effects of his attempt at relieving his rage. Probably on the tree out front, by the looks of it. “I’m not making you relive that shit. I’ll threaten the Dean, hell, no, I’ll have Reggie say something whatever. We’re not-”

“Dad, it’s okay.” She said, and before she could think twice about the implications she continued. “Prompto really wants to go.”

And there it was. The unspoken but very much understood little dent in her complex series of stupid issues. It came as no great surprise that she would say that. She’d do anything for him.

She’s six years old, standing alone in a dark laboratory, and she has to find some way to decide which little baby among all of these will be rescued. The rest are doomed to a fate she cannot even begin to imagine. She can’t do this. Choosing is impossible.

She closes her eyes tight and starts to spin, around and around until she can’t take it anymore. She stops, no way of knowing where she is in the laboratory. All she can do now is lift her arm and point. It feels like someone is lifting her arm for her, but she knows she’s alone. She opens her eyes, and looks at the infant she’s chosen to live. He looks exactly like every other infant in that room.

He’s completely perfect.

“I just don’t think my hang ups should interfere with him having good experiences.” Amelia began arguing before he could even open his mouth. “If he wants to wear a fancy suit and go to a fancy party, then I’ll grit my teeth and get through it. And besides, like, it’d be good practice. Being a doctor is more complicated than just treating illnesses-” Amelia started talking faster. “You know you have to go to all these conferences and lectures and you have to present yourself to get funding so... I should get over it anyway.”

Dad looked at her, brow furrowing. She wanted this conversation to end now. “Ami, you never said why you wanted to be a doctor.”

She’s six years old walking down the sterile hallways of a complex scientific research station. She just overheard the truth, something she was never supposed to hear. She almost refused to believe it. But those interns spoke about demons, and soldiers, and how ‘creepy’ the clones were. She put it together, listening in from her hiding spot in the ventilation shaft. 

Everyone had always said her father was smart, special, gifted; he was going to save the Empire and all its citizens from being crushed by the evil Lucians. Whatever the Lucians were guilty of, they’d have to be pretty terrible to surpass...this.

“I just want to put a little more good out into the universe.” And maybe if she was perfect at it, she could offset a little bit of the suffering she failed to stop.

She’s six years old, pushing buttons exactly as the protocol outline said to. The liquid drains into a reservoir. A number of gears move, lights flash one after the other. She hadn't bothered to read what each system was responsible for, the only thing she needed to know was how to get him out safely. A green button lights up and the glass container opens. 

She knows she has to act fast now. She steps onto a box to reach in and carefully takes the baby out of the container, gently cradling his neck. She holds him close, he’s still kind of wet, and starts patting him firmly on the back. He coughs: once, twice, and the remaining fluid is expelled from his lungs. He starts to breathe air. The worst part is over.

“I want to do this. I want to do these things and make new, good memories.”

“Alright.” Dad said. “If that's what you want. But just...say the word and we’ll split. No questions asked.”

She’s eleven years old and her team lost. She failed to score even a single point. The team captain singles her out, belittling her in front of her teammates. She’s ready to quit. She’s so, so tired of trying again and again and coming up short. But when she leaves the locker room and meets her family outside they have nothing but kind words of encouragement for her. The feeling it gives her overwhelms anything those assholes can throw at her.

“I think I’ll be fine, but, thank you.” Amelia stood from her seat. And before she could leave to get ready for sleep, he grabbed her into a hug, holding her close. 

“You’re _my_ daughter. Alright? Just...don’t forget that. I won’t let anyone hurt you. Either of you.”

She's eight years old, crying on a leather couch in her therapist’s office. The woman had asked if she thinks Cor is a good dad. She’s crying because she knows deep down, he is. She’s worked so hard to not need anyone, not rely on anyone at all. And then this stupid fucking guy just had to show up and give her a warm bed and good food and a nice school and worst of all, care about her. She didn’t ask for any of it. He keeps giving her more and she’s afraid that he’s going to use it against her one day. Just like she did.

Amelia nodded her head into his shoulder. “I know Dad. I love you.”

She’s ten years old and had a bad day at school. She was written up for insubordination for daring to correct the teacher. The Dean calls Cor and tells him she’s on thin ice again. Cor asks if her correction was right. The Dean tells him that isn’t the point. Cor says it’s the only point. He sticks up for her, he has her back. He buys her those noodles she loves for dinner and tells her to never accept anyone’s bullshit if she knows she has the facts. They watch the evening news together, she asks questions and they have discussions about current events. He doesn’t patronize her. He tells her good night before she heads to bed. She stops to return the sentiment, and says just as naturally as breathing air, “Good night Dad, I love you.”

That night, Amelia went to sleep in her bed. She slept in the right bed, the one with the fluffy blue blanket and the nice pillows. And somehow, by some kind of miracle, she didn’t dream at all.

\----

“I’m gonna fall flat on my face.” Amelia groaned.

“No way, you practiced all day you’ll be fine!” Prompto laughed, taking yet another photo.

“I still say you should wear something more flat.” Cor said, finishing tying two braids together in her hair. He'd gotten very good at doing that lately, and considered taking a photo of his work to send to Clarus as a brag. His knuckles were still sore. Chalk that one up on worst impulse decisions. Note to self: tree bark hurts like hell. “I don’t want you doing anything just to impress a bunch of moronic spoiled rich boys.” 

“Oh my Gods, Dad, I do not give two shits about the boys. Prompto why are you doing that, dude, quit it.” Amelia whined as Prompto continued to snap photos.

“Awwe, come on Ami, you look really pretty!” The photo snapping continued unabated. “And every photographer knows you have to take a hundred photos to get one perfect one. Come on, model for me!”

“No.”

“Save some memory space for the actual event, Prom.” Cor said, finishing his work. “Alright, you’re almost good to go.”

“I’ve got another memory card ready. Smile, Ami!”

“I refuse.” She deadpanned.

“Suit yourself!” He said as he took the shot anyway.

Cor took a deep breath. He didn’t want all of them getting too emotional right before heading out, but he’d gone and left the big surprise until right now because no other time felt quite right so here they were. The entire reason he’d even gone along with this whole stupid tradition in the first place. The thing Regis had commissioned for him, specifically for this evening.

“I should probably wear some kind of necklace, so I don’t stand out.” She said.

“Yeah, about that…” Cor opened the little, unassuming box that had been sitting on the table while they were getting all of their little details finished. Every girl ‘debuting’ tonight was doing so while wearing her family crest around her neck. One of the oldest of the old Lucian traditions.  
Noble families had their crests, their little symbols of history and pride and means of saying ‘I’m better than you.’ 

As a crownsguard, he wore the Lucis Caelum crest of a skull. A mark of familiarity with royalty, but almost always one of service. Something that said he was held in high regard but with the little caveat that socially he was less than. At least to those self important shit heads anyway.

Regis had insisted Cor and his kids have something of their own. Something that would shut down the exhausting, vicious chatter of upper class snobs who had too much money and not enough hardship to keep themselves occupied. They were a family, and they belonged here.

It was a nice gesture, but it also sort of spoke volumes. ‘What these people think matters’. Regis knew better than anyone, of course. Yes, Regis’ family had divine rule. That didn’t mean those with the power of wealth and status behind their names couldn’t make it more difficult.

So here it was. Proof of their own status, forged in the same hands as all the others. It really wasn’t necessary. But there admittedly was something...sentimental about it.

He retrieved the first of three necklaces and placed it around Amelia’s neck, clipping it at the back. Prompto gasped and started to snap the shutter as fast as his little fingers could push the button.

“What..?” She picked up the little charm hanging at the front. “Wait, is this a lion?” She asked.

“The not very subtle Leonis family crest. Debuting with you into high society tonight.” _Don't get emotional, this is very stupid, do not get emotional_. “Regis insisted, said it was long past due and had it commissioned for this. Come on, you too Prom” He helped his son put on one he would surely grow into before affixing his own. 

“So we’re gonna go to this dumb thing, have our names yelled out by some underpaid college kid, bow to Regis, you do that one ancient dance with some sixteen year old boy I’m going to put a hit out on later, and we can go get waffles. Alright?”

“You look like Princess Zelda!” Prompto said.

“Oh yeah, and what does that make you? A rito?” She asked, smirking.

“Alright. Everyone ready?” Cor asked. They were ready. This was going to be fine. Everything was fine.

Amelia turned towards him. “Ready as we’ll ever be.” She shrugged.  
\---

Cor was not prepared for how nervous he’d end up being. Amelia was right, this whole thing was gross. A line of old men with their teen daughters on their arms, waiting to walk down the aisle like some mass wedding ceremony. Some traditions just didn’t age well, and this one aged like milk left out in the desert sun for a month. 

The round tables on the left side of the event hall were filled up with crying mothers and a bevy of extended family there to watch their little girls ‘become women’. Prompto was comfortably seated at their assigned table for the night, getting his camera ready to immortalize his sister’s worst night ever. Their table had exactly three chairs.

On the other side of the room, however, was Cor’s personal nightmare: the royal boy’s academy students. While the girls were here to be shown off like prizes, the boys were meant to practice their courtly manners and mingle with potential future brides. The nobility was so impressively divorced from normal modern life and things like this put such a spotlight on it all.

Cor never thought he would end up being one of _those_ dads. Amelia was mature, smart. And more importantly showed little to no interest in boys. He had no reason to be one of _those_ dads. It took one, only one single instance of witnessing some punk teen kid catcalling his daughter and a switch flipped and now he was. He would gladly murder anyone who disrespected her like that. And he knew exactly where to hide the body. No jury would convict him. Yes, he was once a teenage boy. But he never once stared so grossly and blatantly at a girl the way that guy had.

He was kind of busy guarding the King of Lucis, as it were. And being stubborn, reckless, and impulsive. Also traits he did not want around her.

A gentle orchestral melody began playing. The parade of creepy upper class tradition was starting. Each pair was introduced, father and daughter. The two would then make their way to where the King of Lucis sat next to his son (who looked ready to pass right out in his seat). Then the man was supposed to bow, present his daughter, she’d greet the King in the appropriate manner and curtsy. Then the father would escort her to their family table where they’d wait for the procession to finish.

They could do this. It didn’t have to be weird. Regis was his friend for crying out loud. Come Monday morning they’d be laughing about this whole thing and how ridiculous it was.

Amelia had been eerily quiet since they left the house. She usually had some smart ass shit to say about damn near everything. It made Cor feel a bit uneasy for her to just silently wait for their turn.

And so it was that Cor was unsurprised but nonetheless filled with dread when she finally turned to him, only three pairs ahead, and said, “What if I just asked the King ‘how’s it hanging’?” 

She _would_ do that. Cor had no doubt that she was going to do that.

“Please don’t do that.” He whispered.

“And then I could fist bump Noctis.” She continued.

“Please do not do that.”

“And then instead of a curtsy, I could just dab.” She looked at him with the most serious expression, not a hint of humor to be found.

“Amelia-”

“I’m just saying, it’d be pretty funny.”

“Marshal Cor Leonis, and his daughter Amelia Leonis.” 

Cor silently begged for his daughter to just take one thing seriously for once in her life. But then again, why did he care? Why did he want this to go well, so badly? Amelia had no interest in joining this culture of pompous self-obsessed assholes. Cor had no stake in the nobility of Insomnia save what he needed to know to do his job. Hell, Reggie might even find the audacious display funny! Might even wake Noct up from his nap. Why did he care?!

He couldn’t figure it out, he just knew that he did.

They reached the appointed spot, Amelia completely silent the whole walk there. Cor bowed, addressed his friend by his proper title and gestured to present his poorly adjusted, shithead daughter who he loved enormously to the royal court.

Amelia took two steps forward. Paused. Cor felt his throat tighten. With all the practiced grace of a noblewoman she stepped into position, bowed her head, and dropped slowly into a curtsy so low her back knee nearly touched the floor. She then collected herself back into proper posture, thanked his highness for having them, and took Cor’s arm ready to be escorted to their table.

Cor let out a not so subtle sigh of relief. It did not go unnoticed by Regis, who smiled knowingly at him.

“Thank you for not doing that.” Cor whispered as they walked away together from the aisle and over to where Prompto was taking rapid fire shots like a mini paparazzi.

“Yeah well, I needed to assert my dominance over the other girls by showing I’m better at their games than they are. Careful there Prom you’re getting your finger in the shot.” She teased as she collapsed into her chair.

“No I’m not!” Prompto jerked the camera from his face to check the screen. “Ami, that’s mean.” 

“Sorry dude.” She ruffled his hair a little bit. “Just messing with you. I’m sure you got some great photos of me being miserable.”

Cor loosened his necktie a bit, knowing his participation for the event was over. Not so much for his long suffering daughter. As the line of remaining girls quickly shortened, Amelia started fidgeting more and more.

“Relax, kid, I’m sure you’ll do the stupid dance better than all the other girls.” 

“One of the guys would have to ask me to dance in order for that to happen.” She grumbled.

And oh he did not like that one bit. “I know this evening is all about ancient stupid traditions, but why don’t you just pick one and ask him yourself?” Cor offered. He figured with her overbearing confidence and a good glare from the Marshal himself, any boy she picked would have to accept.

“Yeah how about I show everyone how desperate I am?” Amelia rolled her eyes.

Well, he tried.

“I’ll dance with you, Ami!” Prompto.

“Awe, a pity dance from my baby brother. Can I have a beer when we get home?” 

“Absolutely not, quit asking.”

The music started. Cor began to sweat. Those boys were standing and heading to this side of the room. They strolled about, walking up to a table of their choosing to ask the girl’s father permission to dance with her.

This tradition. Needed. To die.

“Amazing, like there’s an anti-boy forcefield covering just this table.” Amelia was struggling not to show her disappointment. 

“Maybe they’re just scared of Dad?” Prompto said while taking a photo of Prince Noctis mid-yawn.

“Pretty sure it’s _my_ reputation doing all the work right now.” Amelia slumped in her chair, all pretense of formality and posture abandoned.

“Yeah...sorry these guys are all too weak for you, kid.” Cor sighed. Seemed a little weird that there wouldn’t be a one to one ratio here, was it expected that some of the girls would be left on the sidelines? If that were the case...that was fucked up. That was really, really fucked up.

“Pardon me, Marshal.” A familiar voice said behind Cor’s seat. He turned around, surprised to see Noct’s young advisor.

“Oh, evening, Scientia. You go to that academy? I thought you had private tutoring?” Cor asked.

“Hi Iggy!” Prompto waved before taking his picture.

“Ah, well, I do. But as it turns out three of the male students meant to be here tonight conveniently came down sick. A few young men of the court, myself included, were asked to fill in so as not to leave any of the ladies out.”

Thank.

_Fucking._

Bahamut.

“You wanna dance with my daughter?” Cor asked, trying to temper his relief that it would be Ignis Scientia, the most mature, self controlled, non-threatening teenage boy Cor had ever met, putting up with Amelia for five minutes.

“If Lady Leonis would have me.” Ignis gave a short bow, ever the proper little gentleman.

Amelia was turning an incredibly unflattering shade of red. “Um. Yeah.” She mumbled.

And off they went, hand in hand, to perform a traditional dance that was never done anywhere else at any other time besides the dance studios where these kids learned it. It was an awkward, fumbling display of teenagers noticeably counting their steps and moving rigidly. 

“Woah, look Dad, she’s actually smiling!” Prompto chirped, followed by more rapid fire clicking.

Cor looked over at his own awkward teenager. Unlike the other girls so focused on hitting every beat perfectly, she looked relaxed. They were talking, Ignis not taking a single step out of rhythm while Amelia simply kept up with his pace. She did indeed look like she was having fun. And soon it was all over. Ignis bowed again. Amelia fell into a much less dramatic curtsy, before turning around and power walking back to their table.

“Alright Prom, get your stuff together, it’s time for waffles.” Cor stood, pushing his chair in.

“Awe, can I say hi to Noctis real quick first?” Prompto whined.

“If you can wake him up, go for it.” Cor picked up the kid’s little suit jacket from the back of his chair and made sure he hadn’t left anything behind. Amelia met him a few feet from the table.

“Looks like you had fun there.” Cor said nonchalantly.

“Shut it.” She said behind gritted teeth, arms stiff at her side. “Can we go now?”

“Yeah, just let your brother bother the Prince and then we’ll be off.”

“Prompto _come on_ , you’ll see him at school on Monday!” Amelia whisper yelled.

After a few handwaves, Prompto skipped back to them and Amelia wasted no time leaving the event hall.

“I thought she did good, Dad.” Prompto said, face stuck in his camera display.

“Me too, buddy.” Nobody died or got a black eye, she did excellent.

Back in the car, Amelia was once again dead silent sitting in the front seat. Prompto was humming something unrecognizable in the back, flipping through his bounty from the evening.

“What did you guys talk about?” He asked.

“Huh? Who?” Amelia turned in her seat to ask.

“You and Iggy, you guys were talking during the dance.” 

“Oh...uh, yeah, y’know, just like college plans. Which universities I was looking into. What I thought about the current breakthrough in medical implant devices. You know, they’re experimenting with different combinations of materials, the ones we have now have to be replaced every fifteen years which is expensive and puts the patient at unnecessary risk. With some of these combinations they predict the device won’t experience any breakdown in efficacy for a century!”

“Wow, and you call me a nerd.” Prompto giggled.

“So just two normal teenagers discussing normal teen things.” Cor joked while turning into the restaurant parking lot.

Amelia sat quietly again for a moment, before turning back to her brother. “Hey, you know him kind of, right? Like when you’ve had your little playdates with Noct?”

“Yep! He’s smart and makes the best cookies.” Prompto said.

“Gonna pretend I didn’t hear that.” Cor said with wounded pride.

“So does he...like…”

“Do not finish that question.” Cor warned.

“....have a girlfriend?” Amelia asked.

“Ew, Ami!” Prompto scrunched his face up.

“Oh stop being a baby! Come on, help me out here.”

“No he won’t. Prompto, do not wingman for your sister.”

“Dad!”

“I thought you liked girls!” Cor said with urgency.

“I DON’T KNOW WHAT I LIKE ANYMORE!”

“You realize Scientia is thirteen, right?”

Amelia’s face dropped.

“Excuse me?”

“He’s thirteen. He’s tall and more mature than men three times his age, but he’s only thirteen.” Cor turned the engine off and took off his seatbelt.

“But...he’s Noct’s advisor.”

“Yup!” Prompto helpfully added to the conversation.

“The Prince’s advisor is only TWO YEARS OLDER than the PRINCE?!” Amelia screeched.

“How is it you’re still surprised at how completely weird everything concerning royalty is?” Cor asked.

“I wanna die.” Amelia pulled her knees up to her chest and covered her face in her hands.

“Eeeww, you had a crush on Iggy!”

“The only crush you sister has is on academic excellence and these waffles we’re getting now.”

“You guys go ahead I’m gonna sit here and die.” She mumbled.

“Oh my Gods, I didn’t think I’d ever be having this moment with you.” Cor sighed, patting her on the shoulder. “There there, you’ll go to college in two years and you’ll find a nice person your own age who is also polite, non-threatening, and intelligent. I’m sure.”

“Come oooon Ami, it’s waffle time! No more gross love talk!” Prompto whined.

“Fine!” Amelia threw her hands up. “But I’m getting a burger.” 

Cor flinched at the thought of ordering a burger from a breakfast place.

The three left the car, Cor draping his suit jacket over an embarrassed Amelia, and Prompto walking in between, talking about which of his photos were worthy of a scrapbook and which had garbage lighting. 

They made their way into the beat up, 24 hour grease shack, and sat in the same booth they always did. They stayed there for longer than they’d meant to. Cor listened to his daughter talk about upcoming legislation that affected the medical community, and his son went over the rule of thirds and proper framing and a new macro lens he wanted to save up for (that Cor had already bought him for his birthday next month). And if their formal wear didn’t already make them stand out, the shiny little lion charms on their necklaces did the trick. But despite it all, this was where they all felt completely themselves. 

They were a family, and they knew it, and didn’t have to prove anything to anyone.

\---

Outside, ankle deep in snow, wholly underdressed for the weather, she stands shivering. Not from the elements, but from fear. Under no circumstance does she want to set foot back inside that mansion. But she was running out of ideas. Running out of time. More and more her life felt like it would always be nothing but the walls of that soulless building. 

If she went through those doors one more time, she’d never leave through them again. Of this she was certain.

But those doors were wide open, falsely advertising light and warmth and most importantly right now, survival. It would deliver the latter at the most basic definition of the word. 

Behind her was a locked gate that led only to darkness. And she knows what creatures lurked about. She’d already tried that, and it didn’t end well.

She can stay here and freeze to death. She can try to escape and meet her end at the jaws of some hungry monstrosity. Or she can go back home and live.

She still fears death.

Her feet reluctantly carry her back up the stairs and in through the open entranceway. The doors close behind her, two men turning from the job and bowing politely.

“A pleasure to have you home, my lady.” An elderly woman, dressed in high finery, places a threatening hand on her shoulder and begins guiding her back to her room. “Still in your day wear? That will not do Delphia.”

She looks down at the pale pink dress she’d been wearing since that morning. It was simple, free of frivolous adornment. It will not do.

She stands in silence as three young women dress and prod and tie and pinch and reform her flesh until it fits perfectly in the heavy, tightly laced red gown. The elderly woman, meanwhile, yanks at her hair, twisting it this way and that until she is satisfied.

“That will have to do.” The elderly woman sighs, grabs her by the arm and leads her back out of her room, towards the ballroom already filled with noise, and hands her over to her waiting mother.

“You are late.”

“I apologize, Mother.”

“Apologize to our guests who came here to see a well bred young woman and instead will be presented with this poor excuse for a vagrant.”

“Yes, Mother.”

The two men open the doors, and in she walks. Her name announced to the highly disinterested guests.

“Smile.”

“Yes, Mother.”

She tries. She floats through the room, exchanging pleasantries with bored faces exactly as she’d been taught. Smiling politely exactly as she’d been told. She finds a comfortable spot to stand, flush against the wall, exactly as she always does. Far away from where her mother was holding court with the usual array of widowers and adulterers vying for her attention. So long as it was on them, and not her, she hardly cared.

She can breathe back here. Let her face rest.

“Such a pretty thing. You would be even prettier if you smiled, young lady.” A man twice her age comments without invitation.

In a small, much needed act of rebellion she stares right past his smirking face, refusing to let her lips budge even a bit. An attempt to reclaim the fangs and claws that had been ripped from her so long ago. The man, in return, makes a derisive sound, muttering no doubt terrible things about her upbringing as he leaves her in peace.

“Oh, men. They are such brutish bores, are they not?”

She cannot help but smile, hearing the voice of the one singular person in all of Niflheim who she could stand to be around for more than a minute. 

“Good evening Chancellor.” She says brightly, taking the glass currently being offered in the man’s extended hand.

“Indeed it is: a lovely evening to celebrate a lovely young lady.” He offers his own glass in a small toast, clinking the two together. “Your father sends his love.”

“Hm. I’m sure he does.” She takes a single sip of the bitter dark liquid. She always feels strangely at ease when her father’s friend visits. The man, such a prominent figure in Niflheim politics, was somehow untangled from the trappings of it. Unafraid to speak his mind, without a care of who he may offend. He is everything she wishes she could be.

“Sixteen years. Such a hallmark age. No longer a child, the rest of your life forming right before your eyes.” The Chancellor removes his hat, placing it over his heart. “The path of least resistance, nicely paved for you to traverse in your finest shoes.”

She grips the glass tighter, feels the condensation collecting on her fingers.

“Tis’ a shame, this path had such an inviting little entrance, didn’t it? But it’s not the one you hoped for, Delphia.”

She slowly shakes her head, eyes staring out at the faceless crowd of partiers.

“What lies ahead?” She asks.

The Chancellor sighs with sorrow. “A marriage, naturally. A union cobbled together by forces far above your control. A military man. High ranking, yet close to you in age, lucky you. You’ll leave your mother’s home for awhile, but you’ll visit often as his duties leave you alone for long stretches of time. You live with this easily, as he would rather not be around you and you, as well, do not wish to be around him.”

He takes a long sip before continuing. 

“Your husband is killed in a foolish act of bravery born from misguided sentimentality. So it goes in the horrors of war.”

“I assume I have you to thank for that?”

The Chancellor smiles, placing his hat back atop his head. Never one to conform to the rules of decorum.

“I expect a letter of gratitude in the mail by Monday. Your father dies, one cold evening in the middle of nowhere. Succumbed to one of his...experiments, we shall say. Your mother finds her end, along with two other lives, in a terrible accident involving an automobile. You carry on alone, as always, until eternal night swallows the land. By then you will have lost your will to fight for your life, as it is not something worth fighting for. You die, as a majority of all humanity will during this period. And you go into it with ease, never much wanting to hold on to any piece of this mortal life in the first place.”

“Hmm.” Was her simple reply.

“Indeed. A waste of limitless potential. A life numbed of any sparking flames, choked as it is within these perfectly painted walls. The wheels of fate turn, and nothing of any consequence is truly changed.” 

“And what about you?” She asks.

“Ah, but we’ve already been over this. No matter where I find _my_ ending, I win.” He finishes his drink and drops the glass to the floor where it shatters into a dozen tiny pieces. “So, shall we abandon this lonesome road, and start again, once more from the top?”

“What’s the point of it?” She asks. “We’ve been down so many paths and they all end the same. I die alone, anything I could be completely wasted. And you, you always…” Delphia could feel tears pricking at the corner of her eyes. It wasn’t fair. 

“True, every obvious path has been thoroughly trodden down. But perhaps, with the appropriate catalyst…” The Chancellor motions towards her mother, then runs a single finger across his own throat. “We can find something not so set in stone.”

“Oh.” Is all she can find to say.

“Your payment remains just as well. You need only say the words, and I will see to the messy bits.”

He looks down at her. The five year old little girl looks up at him. She nods. “Do it.”

“Until next we meet.” The Chancellor snaps his fingers.

Amelia woke up in her bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> @pandalots on twitter
> 
> bramblepeltao3.tumbl.com
> 
> Feel free to scream at me at either of these locations!


	12. Prompto is Twelve Years Old and Said a Bad Word

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The dog days are just beginning

Amelia looked at her watch while tapping her foot impatiently. 3:12 pm. He was seven minutes late. Prompto usually met her at the school entrance by 3:05 pm, having been dismissed from class at 3:00 pm. It took him three to five minutes to get his things together and make his way from his classroom to their usual ‘Monday through Thursday during the fencing off season’ meeting spot. 

Two to three minutes over she could dismiss. Seven minutes was distressing.

There were very good reasons why Amelia wanted to rendezvous with her brother and get home as soon as possible.

First, she had a history paper to finish. And then format. And then clean up her citations and reference page. She was sick of writing in MLA format when she knew her whole future of academic writing would be in IMA format.

Second, it was threatening to rain soon and she hadn’t thought to bring an umbrella.

Third, she hated waiting around in her school uniform. It made her stand out and everyone acted weird around her when she wore it. Like she was some super snobby rich girl. Even worse were the boys who just had to say something, like they saw the school insignia on her jacket and saw “Daddy has money” and took that as an invitation to talk to her.

Ew.

Fourth, Gladiolus Amicitia was also here today. And it was awkward. She just kept staring at her wrist watch, hoping he hadn’t even noticed her. They had successfully ignored each other since they were little kids, when Amelia had to go do that thing where she ran her mouth for no real reason, and make enemies everywhere.

She never really apologized. She should apologize. But that’s weird. It was forever ago. She’d changed a lot. She was kinda less shitty now. He’s right there, just walk over three steps and go apologize for being a shithead brat. He and your brother are going to be working together for forever now because of his terrible awful career goals so you need to get along. Go over and apologize.

No, don’t, if he wanted to talk to you ever at all he would, but he hasn’t, so just stay right here and keep out of his business.

Where the fuck was Prompto…

“Oh, hello there.”

Ugh, fuck, here we go again.

“Now what’s a pretty little thing like you doing in this part of town?”

This guy was slimy. He looked older. Those were the worst: the college aged guys who thought they could woo her with their ~maturity~ and ~intelligence~. These guys were bottom of the barrel nasty.

“Do me a favor and piss off.” Amelia folded her arms and looked away, refusing to give him any more of her time. That usually did the trick.

“Ooh, a bad girl, huh? Wanna slum it up with some regular guys, make Mommy and Daddy angry?”

Great. He was getting in her space now and had obviously had a few drinks. At three in the afternoon, amazing. Real classy.

“Are you seriously trying to pick up girls in front of an elementary school? Pretty gross, you know there’s a word for scum bags like you.”

One more shitty word, one more step closer and she was going to pile drive this asshole into the concrete.

“Awe, come on sweetheart, why don’t we-”

“HEY!”

Just as she was about to meet this guy’s junk with her knee, another arm reached into her personal space and moved the creeper out of smelling distance.

“She told you to fuck off, now fuck off.” It was Gladio. Great. 

“Woah man, we were just having a conversation! No need to get all pushy.” The slimeball put his hands up but was not backing down.

Gladio put himself completely between her and the drunk shitwad. “Do you even know who she is?” 

Oh gods oh gods oh gods please everyone go away please!

“What, your girlfriend?”

“She’s The Immortal’s daughter, you don’t want to be fucking around with her.”

Amelia was going to scream. Just scream until everyone left her alone. Where the FUCK was Pro- actually on second thought she did not want him seeing this.

The guy was laughing like this was some kind of joke. “Listen kid, why don’t you run on home and-”

Gladio took one step forward, forcing the guy to retreat back. In his drunken stupor, he slipped on seemingly nothing and stumbled even further until the fucker was on the ground.

“Whatever.” He said, trying and failing several times to get back on his feet. “You’re not even that pretty, I was doing you a favor.”

Amelia rolled her eyes and watched in glee as the guy stumbled off to wherever to go sleep off his bad life choices.

Okay. Gladio helped you. He didn’t need to, and you could’ve handled it all on your own, but it was a nice gesture. He’s close with your Dad so of course he was going to help. Now say thank you. Just say thank you. Be a normal fucking person, bury that stupid hatchet, say thank you and move on.

Just

Say

“You didn’t need to get involved, I can protect myself you know.”

Cool! Very cool Amelia! Good job, you stupid bitch!

Gladio laughed. “You’re not the one I was protecting. Don’t think Cor would appreciate his daughter getting charged with attempted murder.”

Oh.

_Ha ha._

“Thanks.” Finally. You finally said it! Good job, now just keep your stupid mouth shut and everyone can move on with their lives. “So…” Nope, nope shut your mouth. “Sorry I was a huge asshole when we were kids.”

“Huh? Oh yeah, you were a jerk. But so was I. Kids are jerks. Hey Noct-” He turned towards the gated entrance. “Where do you think you’re running off to?”

So that was it. Years of fretting over her shitty behavior, and all it took was one apology. Like he hadn’t even thought about it since.

Wow. Imagine that.

“See you around, Ami.” He waved, dragging along a very tired and angry looking Prince by the back of his jacket.

“Bye.” She waved before her arm was pulled back down by her excited little brother.

“Sorry Ami, Noct didn’t want to leave because he knew Gladio was gonna make him do training again today.”

“Oh yeah?” She asked as they started their normal route. “Why does Noct have to train anyway, isn’t that what having a crownsguard is for?”

Prompto shrugged his shoulders. “I know, right? He won’t need to do anything with me and Gladio at his side!” He said with pride while taking his camera out to photograph a cat sitting in a bookstore window.

She knew this was where he was heading, and there was no dissuading him. But it sucked. Soooooooo much. 

Reasons why Prompto Leonis Should Not Be a Crownsguard  
_An Ordered List Compiled By His Very Smart Older Sister_  
1\. He could and would get hurt and that is bad  
2\. He doesn’t need to be a crownsguard to be Noct’s friend like come on  
3\. He had so many other career avenues he could be exploring, like obviously photography! Or uh...video games? Chocobo herding?  
4\. Being in the crownsguard meant being in a position to one day maybe have to fight Magitek troops and the very thought of that makes me want to vomit and pass out because Hello! Where to even start unpacking that shit!?  
5\. It meant a greater possibility that he might end up in the same place as Verstael. And there was no fucking way that could ever happen.  
5a. But maybe that just meant he’d be ready to protect himself?  
5b. Dad can protect him though.  
5c. Dad wouldn’t let him become an official crownsguard unless Prompto could demonstrate being capable of defending himself from anything.  
But still…  
6\. I don’t want him to.

And that was the hardest part of all of this. At the end of the day, her anxiety over the matter was selfish. If she had her way, Prompto would live in a damn indestructible bubble where he could be safe and alive forever.

That was stupid. Everything she did, she did so he could grow up, live his own life, and make his own choices. Forcing him to live by her rules would completely negate the entire point. She may as well have stayed back there if that was how she wanted to keep things.

So, she tried to keep her mouth shut and not freak out when the topic was brought up.

...mostly.

She remembered that evening, months ago, when Dad told her she needed to start living for herself. Enjoy nice things. Plan her own future. And she had. It was hard, very very hard, to heavily research every teaching hospital outside of Gralean borders only to conclude that the best one possible for her future residency was in _Altissia_. That was so far away from her family and the wall and everything she’d ever learned to love. Granted, it would be a few years before she could even think about her residency interviews.

Nonetheless. Thinking about heading overseas for her own career goals while leaving her brother behind to be a _fucking royal bodyguard_ , felt like dipping her toe into a river of absolute insanity.

She promised she’d try though. So she was trying. But man did it suck.

She heard Prompto sigh in defeat as he walked next to her, eyes as always on the little screen on his camera.

“What’s wrong dude?” Amelia asked. Far as she could tell, he was scrolling through some pretty impressive photos there. Which told her the little sound was an indicator of something else going on upstairs.

“Oh, I’m just thinking.” He said without looking up.

“...uh huh? Go on?” She prodded him with her elbow.

“It’s nothing, just this project for school. It’s kind of harder than I thought it would be.” He turned the camera off, frowning while putting it in his backpack.

Amelia’s knee jerk reaction was to ask if he needed help. But, hard as it was, she needed to stop offering it up front and let him come to her if he needed it. For a very short amount of time, she had gotten into a bad habit of practically doing his homework for him. That wasn’t ideal for either of them, so instead she decided to only butt in if he came to her first. After all, who knew if she’d even be around once he started high school, and he’d have to become even more self sufficient? 

The thought shot like an icicle in her stomach and she quickly pushed it far, far away.

“Does it involve photography?” She asked instead.

He nodded. “Sort of.”

“Then I’m sure you’ll do great.” She tried not to sound patronizing. She’d always hated getting that herself. But truly, Prompto was excellent at photography, considering what he had to work with. He once took a photo of her that she didn’t completely hate. And it wasn’t posed or staged, he just saw the moment and got it. Like, only an artistic genius could possibly achieve that!

“Maybe.” He sighed again, before stopping his tracks and looking away. “Did you hear that?” He asked, looking towards the row of buildings that made up the right side of their route home.

“I didn’t hear anything.” Amelia frowned. “What was it?”

He gasped. “Ami, look!” He took off, running towards an apartment building and shoved his face between two overgrown shrubs at the entrance. She _hated_ how he did that. Just zero to lightning, speeding off before she could even blink. She ran to catch up with him, afraid he was about to get his face bitten off by a rabid squirrel or something.

“Prompto, what the hell do you think-….oh no…”

\---

The poor thing. The poor little puppy, she was looking up at Prompto with the saddest, most terrified eyes. She was hurt, and bleeding! She needed help.

“She needs help now!” Prompto yelled while gently trying to coax her out from under the shrub. “It’s okay, little puppy, we can get you all fixed up. My sister’s gonna be a doctor, she can help!”

“Prompto, I don’t even know where to start with how off base that statement was.”

Whatever! She was smart, and was already reading college textbooks, she knew enough that she could do it.

The little dog limped over to him, whining so pathetically Prompto was going to start crying just from the sound. Very carefully, paying particular attention to her injured leg, Prompto scooped her into his arms and stood back up.

“Come on, we gotta get home and clean up her wound before it gets infected!” He started walking quickly in the direction of their house.

“Uh, what we need to do is get her to the vet! They can help her way better than I can…”

“Our house is closer, and we need to get her fixed up fast. Come on!”

She made that face at him, the one that said she wanted to keep arguing but she knew he wasn’t going to budge.

Stubbornness was a Leonis family trait, just like Dad always said.

“Alright, fine! Guess I’m learning how to treat a broken dog leg on the fly!” She pulled out her phone and started typing.

They finally reached home, right as the rain was starting to pour, and Ami couldn’t unlock the door fast enough. Daisy was there to greet them as usual, but upon seeing the smaller dog in Prompto’s arms she stopped dancing, her tail drooping a bit.

“Sorry for the surprise Daisy,” he said while moving past her to the living room, “but this is an emergency.”

Grumbles looked on from his spot on the couch, glaring at the intrusion of yet another canine in his home.

“Dad’s gonna kill me.” Ami mumbled while joining him on the floor with a towel and the first aid kit. She got to work, gently taking the tiny dog’s leg and switching from her phone to her supplies.

“She’s so tiny…” Prompto moaned. He hated thinking about tiny little creatures being in pain. It killed him.

“She’s okay, the leg isn’t broken. Looks like it’s just a nasty gash. We can get this cleaned up, no problem.”

Prompto stroked the white dog’s fur in an attempt to soothe her while Ami applied the antibiotic cream with a cotton ball. “Sssh, it’s okay. It only stings for a little bit, then you’ll feel better.” He whispered in response to a soft whine. “You’re going to be okay.”

“Damnit, when did we finish off the sterile bandaging? Why didn’t it get replaced…” Ami dug fruitlessly through the kit.

“Oh, I know!” Prompto got his freshly cleaned handkerchief from his pocket and tied it around her leg.

“Not too tight, there might be some swelling and you don’t want her to be in pain.”

“I got it…” He tied the corners off to make a perfect bandage. The tiny dog inspected their work and looked back at him with a soft wag of her tail.

“Nice job, dude. Alright, I’m just gonna give her a check…” Ami got to work brushing through the dog’s fur with her fingers, checking for any other injuries or bleeding. His sister looked so strangely soft like that, with the dog’s head in her lap and an expression of pure concern. He also noticed the sunlight from the window was perfectly streaming through her hair.

He remembered his assignment, and quickly got his camera out and ready just in time to capture the moment before her inspection was complete.

“Hmm, precious memories.” She smirked.

“You’ll thank me when you’re applying to veterinary school.” Prompto teased. 

“Oh yeah, you know me, completely comfortable with animals of all types. Sure, dude.” Ami closed the first aid kit and stood up to put it away. “Need more sterile bandaging, running low on antibiotic cream, that burn cream is about to expire...”

Daisy took Ami’s absence as an opportunity to come check out what all the excitement was about.

“Be gentle, Daisy, she’s a lot smaller than you, and she’s hurt.” Prompto whispered, petting his older dog to reassure her she wasn’t being replaced. Daisy sniffed at the puppy’s head, then her wounded leg, gave a gentle nudge of her nose to the other’s, and laid down next to her to begin grooming the white dog’s coat.

So.

CUTE!

“Ami, hurry, come look!” He yelled, glad he already had his camera. The cuteness was overwhelming. He had to get as many photos of this as the memory card would hold. “We need a name for you…” Prompto muttered between clicks, noticing the distinct lack of a collar and tags.

Ami returned to witness the cutest thing that ever happened ever. “Awe, yeah that’s adorable. Grumbles, hey, no!” She pointed at the cat who looked ready to pounce and start something. “Leave her alone. She’s a guest.”

“We need a name for her!” Prompto repeated.

“What we need is to get posters made, I’m sure a dog that well groomed has an owner.” Ami picked up the orange cat in an effort to placate his disapproval.

Prompto pouted. “Okay, but we need something to call her in the meantime. Oh, I know! What about Chibi?” He asked.

“Chibi?” Ami made a weird face.

“It means tiny.” He explained.

“You’re such a nerd.” She laughed, removing the aggressor from the environment.

“You get a better experience watching the original versions if you understand the language!”

“Nerd alert!” She yelled from down the hall.

Ami returned again, most likely satisfied that Grumbles didn’t know how to open doors with his paws just yet, and flopped down on the couch.

“If you can get a good picture of Chibi on her own, we can head to the pharmacy and get posters made.”

Prompto sighed. That’s certainly what they should do. She obviously belonged to somebody, hopefully someone who was worried sick right now. And there was no way Dad was going to be okay with another dog shedding fur all over the furniture. How would he feel if Daisy went missing and some other kid decided to keep her for himself? Terrible.

Finding her owner was the right thing to do.

Daisy snuggled her head against Chibi’s, closing her eyes to take a nap.

Doing the right thing was the worst.

“Okay, after they’re done napping.” Prompto mumbled, returning to his camera. He stood and wandered over to the kitchen table, face still glued to his camera. He flipped back to the photo he took of his sister. He caught the moment perfectly. It certainly fit the standards laid out for the assignment.

It was an immense, end of year project that incorporated critical thinking, empathetic reasoning, creativity, and the worst: public speaking. 

‘Consider something you see differently from everyone else. How is your perspective different? Why? Try to capture these differences in a creative way: poetry, collage, painting, or photography are all examples. Be prepared to explain your project to an audience.’ 

And at first Prompto had been completely on board. Of course he’d choose photography, any reason to practice and improve was fantastic as far as he was concerned. And he immediately had an idea for a topic: Noct. Everyone else saw him as this aloof, distant royal who thought himself too good to be there. But Prompto knew better. 

Prompto knew that Noct had pain and energy problems from his injury a few years back. He knew Noct was just shy and didn’t like being everyone’s center of attention when the focus was on his life as a royal. He knew Noct wasn’t stuck up, he wanted to be just like everyone else. The problem wasn’t Noct, it was everyone else refusing to let him be anything other than some untouchable figure up on a pedestal. 

He’d get together old photos he’d taken of Noct with Daisy, and that day last summer when he’d shown Prompto his new favorite pastime (Fishing of all things! Nobody who loves fishing is stuck up.), and maybe he could snag a few new ones. Maybe some in the Citadel garden, with nice lighting and the colors of the flowers contrasting his royal black attire. He could see it in his mind instantly and was excited to get started.

That was, until the teacher followed up that their audience would be composed of their invited family members. The thought of showcasing pictures of Noctis with a little speech about how he was great, actually, suddenly felt less ideal. More like bragging, or even propaganda. It would’ve been different if it were just his classmates, who were already aware that the two were weird inseparable best friends. Taking the topic out of that context of his peers could be completely misconstrued. And as a future crownsguard, he didn’t need anything about exploiting Noct’s image for personal gain on his record.

Maybe he’d make that project anyway. But just for Noct. Maybe for his birthday.

So he took a second look at the photo of his sister, who everyone saw as scary and mean and cold, gently caring for a helpless puppy. And he flipped back further, to a photo he took of their dad. The man the public saw as some stoic mythical demigod who felled every enemy in his wake, wearing an apron and making cupcakes for his school’s bake sale. The speech would practically write itself!

Of course...it would still be kind of weird to talk about them on the auditorium stage...in front of them. In fact the entire thought of presenting a project like this in front of his family sent a weird anxiety through Prompto. He knew they supported him, and always had nice things to say about his hobby. So why did the idea of putting himself out there in front of strangers scare him so much less than doing the same thing in front of Dad and Ami?

Maybe he just...wouldn’t tell them about it. Yes. Yes, surely they would both be busy with their own school and work. They didn’t have time to spend a few hours at an elementary school in the middle of the afternoon to watch sixth graders stumble awkwardly through speeches about comic book superheroes or whatever. And they’d probably feel bad, too! If they were invited but couldn’t make it, they’d just feel really bad and the last thing he ever wanted was for anyone he cared about feeling bad.

He would just conveniently forget to tell them about it. Problem solved.

“So,” his sister began, “is it funnier to tell Dad ahead of time that we brought home a puppy, or just let him see for himself?” She joined him at the table, history textbook and laptop in hand.

Prompto giggled, but then quickly composed himself. “We should probably let him know.”

Ami hummed as she started texting. “You got any homework to work on?” She asked.

He did, actually. For literature. He had to read a book about this family who travels through space to go live on a different star. He knew the whole point of the book was environmentalism, and how if we didn’t take care of our ecosystem here then everyone was going to have a bad time. The family in the story had already gone through so many awful experiences, and there was no good ending in sight. 

But one thing about the story stuck out to him: the protagonist in the book kept lamenting how they did not have enough money to utilize the ‘wormholes’. They could get to a habitable planet way faster if they did. 

But… other than stating it was a way to get somewhere faster the book didn’t explain what a wormhole even was. And the teacher didn’t know, and none of the other students seemed to care anyway. But he really wanted to know, if these things were real, what exactly were they? Did they move around? Were they the same thing as a black hole? Could they accidentally get sucked into one!?

Lucky him, Prompto had a walking talking encyclopedia for a sister.

“What’s a wormhole?” He asked, forgetting to preface the question with context.

“Like...a space wormhole?” She asked. Prompto nodded. “Huh. Okay...I mean, how to explain it….okay.” She ripped a piece of paper from her notebook and grabbed a pen, drawing a little stick figure on the far edge of the paper.

“See this? That’s you.” She pointed at him. The little figure was smiling and had glasses and everything. “And this,” she continued, drawing another stick figure on the other end of the paper, “is Noctis.”

His figure was very sulky.

“Let’s say you want to get over to Noctis as quickly and efficiently as possible. How do you do it?” She asked.

He knew this one! “A straight line!” He said, tracing his finger from one little doodle to the other.

Ami nodded. “Correct. In a vacuum, at least. In reality,” she started scribbling shapes all over the paper, “you have buildings, trees, cars, rocks, all sorts of obstacles. A straight line is impossible. Your path is now much longer, and takes more energy. That’s not ideal. But there is another way, and it’s even more efficient than a straight line. Can you guess?” She asked, smiling in that way she did when she was about to prove how good she was at book stuff.

Prompto frowned, looking at the city maze she’d crafted. Nothing was faster than a straight line. 

“It’s...kind of a trick question, if that helps.” She said quietly.

He stared a little more, trying to put the puzzle together. Until finally- “Aha!” he yelled, grabbing the paper, and folding it in half so the two stick figures were together. He looked at Ami for approval, and her face was beaming with it.

“Yes! Exactly. Now. Obviously in our normal day to day lives that’s silly and impossible. Enter the wormhole. It’s believed these things either already exist in space, or could someday be artificially created by humans. I mean, we’d have to get out there first but I digress. It’s believed that with the right application of mass and energy, one could warp the very fabric of physical space.”

Ami took the paper back, folding it the opposite way so the two figures were facing the outside. She then took her pen, and stabbed it through the paper.

“A wormhole is a bridge between two places that can’t normally be reached in a straight path.”

This was starting to somehow actually make sense. “So in space travel, you could go between two stars faster?” He asked. 

She nodded. “Bend reality and you got yourself a quick pass to anywhere. Hell, some scientists theorize it could be used to travel in time.” She laughed. “Never going to see _that_ in my lifetime. That answer your question?” 

Prompto reached for the paper, Ami handed it to him. He spun the pen around a couple of times, thinking about little doodle Prompto getting on top of it and walking over to little doodle Noct. He could not even begin to imagine what that could look like. How would you even perceive reality bending around you? Could you even see it? Could he take a photograph of it? Would it look the same as what his eyes perceived? Would light get all messed up?

“Eos to Prompto.” Ami tapped her fingers on the table.

“Oh, sorry, yeah I was just...thinking.” It was some pretty heavy stuff.

“Yeah, it’s a lot isn’t it? But you're smart, by the time you get to my age you’ll probably be able to explain it even better to me.” She smirked. “Here.” She wrote down a list on another sheet of paper and handed it to him. “If you want to start reading more on the topic, get a head start.”

The list had things like ‘General Theory of Relativity’ and ‘Gravitational Tunnels’ on it. A research project. He’d look into all that later.

Ami’s phone made a dinging sound. She checked it, snorted, and went back to her writing.

“Dad says we’re both getting rabies shots.”

Prompto felt himself go pale. He did not, under any circumstances at all, like the idea of needles being anywhere near him. 

“Dude, chill out, he’s joking. ….I mean probably…”

Prompto felt a gentle lick on his hand, and looked down to see his faithful Daisy trying to comfort him. He gave her a rub between the ears in thanks and walked back to the living room to check on Chibi. The little pup was mid stretch and yawning, before looking up at Prompto and giving a small yip.

“Cute…” He whimpered. There was no way this adorable creature had rabies. He put off taking the poster photo a little bit longer, figuring she might be hungry. Daisy, of course, seemed happy to share her own food bowl with the younger dog. With a belly full of kibble, and plenty of water, Chibi was seemingly full of energy.

She was still limping about, but she yipped with enthusiasm and followed Daisy around the house. Prompto managed to get a few good shots of the puppy. Anyone who may be missing her would recognize her immediately. 

“Dad should be home soon.” Ami said, grabbing a beverage from the fridge. “Go to the pharmacy after dinner?” She asked.

Prompto sighed. “Yeah.” 

“Hey, I get it, she’s super cute.” Ami knelt down next to him, held her hand out for Chibi to sniff. “Maybe the owner will let you visit?” She put her hand on the side of the dog’s face, giving her a little scratch.

Ami suddenly stopped moving. She was just...staring into space. Prompto was quickly getting freaked out and was ready to start shaking her before she blinked a few times and wrenched her arm back.

“Shit, Ami, what happened?! Are you okay?!” He yelped. 

She nodded. “Yeah, did you hear that?”

What? The sound of his nerves snapping?! “Hear what?”

Ami frowned, looked at the television, then stood up and walked back to her laptop.

“No, volume is muted. Is your stereo on? I swear, I heard someone talking.” She walked to her bedroom, Prompto heard her open her bedroom door. Grumbles zipped out and down the hall, letting everyone know of his disapproval. She walked back in and stared at the door. “You seriously didn’t hear that?”

“Hear WHAT?!” He repeated. “If this is a joke it isn’t funny.”

“Not a joke.” She whispered, walking back to her room again.

Chibi shoved her nose against Prompto’s hand, obviously looking for more affection. Prompto obliged, giving her a scratch under the chin. “You didn’t say anything, did you?” He asked the pup jokingly. That would be silly.

Ami walked back into the living room, crossed her arms and furrowed her brow. “Guess I’m hearing things now. Super.” She shrugged her shoulders and returned to her homework.

“Wait.” She walked back into the room. “Did you say ‘shit’?”

“Yeah. What’s the big deal, you say it all the time!” And frankly the double standard was becoming quite unfair.

She narrowed her eyes before turning and leaving again.

It wasn’t long before Dad was home, and he seemed to be thoroughly stuck between being upset and finding the puppy just as incredibly cute as they did.

“Well, can’t say I’m not proud of you for taking care of something in need. As long as we all understand the dog can’t stay here.” Dad said as he began getting ingredients ready for dinner.

“We’re going to make posters!” Prompto held up his camera. “I took pictures of her, we can get them printed and hang them up around where we found her.”

Chibi yipped in agreement.

“Sounds like a plan. Why don’t you help me chop some vegetables?” He asked.

Prompto took a quick peek at his sister, who usually took it upon herself to do that sort of thing. She was silently staring at her laptop screen, three books open around the table, looking exhausted. “Sure, I’ll help!” He rolled his sleeves up and washed his hands before starting to dice up the onion and peppers exactly like they’d taught him.

“What about you, Ami? How was your day?” Dad asked.

“Oh you know,” she groaned, “I’m just a terrible student because I don’t pay attention when the teacher drones on about his personal life and also I’m ‘too outspoken’ about my political views for a young lady and also I’ve started having auditory hallucinations. Just normal high school stuff.”

Dad dropped his knife and leaned over to look at her. “Hallucinations?”

She shrugged her shoulders. “It only happened once like an hour ago. Remember, Dolores said adjusting my meds might have weird side effects. It’s probably nothing.”

“It’s probably exhaustion.” He said before going back to the task at hand. “You having nightmares again?”

“I would have to stop having them in order to have them _again_.”

“Alright smart ass, you know what I meant.” Dad smirked as he started putting ingredients into the hot pan sizzling with oil. “So should I make an appointment with the doc or what?”

“Nah, I’m fine. She said it takes a few weeks to really adjust, and I have an appointment by then anyway. I’ll tell you if I start seeing pink behemoths or something, though.” She went right back to typing. 

“Nice work with the dice there, Prom, mind setting the table?” Dad asked.

Prompto nodded and got right to it. With Ami getting closer to graduation and college admissions and Dad’s schedule being as busy as ever, he was finding more responsibility put on his shoulders.

And Prompto _loved it_. 

Finally, after years of practically begging for the chance to prove he was just as smart and capable as everyone else, he was now not only allowed to do so. They _needed_ him to. It felt so rewarding being able to help them the way they’d always done for him. Prompto was useful, and capable, and all around just as grown up as Ami was when she was twelve.

Of course there were still a few moments here and there where they would slip and treat him like a little kid. ‘Don’t overexert yourself’ ‘Be careful with the knife’ ‘Are you sure you can handle it?’ But everytime they doubted him, he always pulled through and proved how much he’d grown.

On the other hand, Prompto had also finally accepted that he’d always be ‘the baby’ in the family. It could be his forty fifth birthday and Ami would still tell him to be careful blowing out the candles because fire is hot. At least now he had the maturity to understand that was how they showed they loved him, and it wasn’t because they thought he was a useless baby.

“Ami dinner’s almost ready, we have to get your stuff off the table!” Prompto said while scooping up two of the closed books.

“Ugh, fine. You're lucky that smells amazing!” She yelled towards the kitchen, closing her laptop.

“So are you!” Dad yelled back.

“What’s your paper about?” Prompto asked, helping her move her stuff out of the dining room.

“Deep dive into the life of The Rogue. You know, the badass queen who went on cool adventures and kicked the ass of everyone who doubted her. Everyone had to pick a ‘King of Lucis’ to study. I made damn sure I got the only one worth studying.” She smirked, carrying the rest of her stuff away. “And before you argue, Dad, Uncle Reggie wasn’t an option.”

Prompto remembered seeing a painting of The Rogue once, hanging in the Citadel. Apparently it was the artist’s interpretation of what she may have looked like, since she was incredibly aloof and wore a mask all the time. It made him wonder if Noct would be able to do cool stuff like that when he was King one day. Dress up like a superhero and disappear into the night, fighting demons and bad guys. Maybe Prompto could join him. As his sidekick! The Dark Knight and his trusty sidekick, Chocobo Boy!

…

Wait, that was just Batman and Robin.

“Alright, dinner’s on.” Dad set the pan on the trivet Prompto had put in the middle of the table before heading back into the kitchen. “Who wants what to drink?” He called out.

“Just water for now, thank you!” Prompto responded, taking his seat. 

“I’ll take a beer.” Ami yelled. Prompto rolled his eyes.

“Water for everyone then.”

“Why do you always ask for beer? You know he’s not going to let you have it.” Prompto asked. The joke had honestly gotten very old a long time ago.

“I have an inherent need to antagonize and I’d prefer doing it in small, harmless ways.” Ami smirked, passing the serving spoon to him.

He would never, in a thousand years, understand her compulsion to create problems on purpose. He remembered it being much worse when they were little kids, but she was still at it and probably always would be. The idea of making people upset at you, for fun, was nuts and he’d never ever ever get it.

Dinner passed in thankful peace, and soon enough he and Dad were printing out lost dog posters to pass around the next day while Ami stayed home to finish her paper. It wasn’t often he got to see his own work printed out on such a nice industrial printer. It really gave it that extra, professional looking polish.

“Hey Dad?” Prompto asked while they walked home. “You’re a super important part of the crownsguard, right?”

“I’d say the title of Marshal carries some weight, yes, what’s up?” His dad looked at him suspiciously. No, Prompto wasn’t going to ask for any special treatment, but he couldn’t fault his dad for thinking that.

“Well, it’s just, you work really hard and stuff but you still have plenty of time to spend with us. Is that normal? Do you think I’ll still have time for stuff like photography?” Prompto stuffed his hands into the pocket of his sweatshirt. He really didn’t want to seem like he was having doubts, he most certainly wasn’t, and he hoped Dad understood as much.

“Hmmm.” He rubbed at the hair on his chin. “Well, I am blessed to have time to spend with you kids, but I’d be lying if I said I thought it was enough.”

“Really?” Prompto asked. He thought, all things considered, he got to spend plenty of time with them. Prompto certainly seemed to get more time than Noct did with his Dad. 

He nodded. “Might just be a dad thing in general, though. You’ll have your own time, of course. And plenty of opportunities to take photos on the job I’m sure. Just remember, when you’re a crownsguard, the job comes first. Always.”

Prompto knew that, It was something he’d accepted the moment he chose to pursue this path. 

But there was something so morose in the way his dad looked, the way he said it. Prompto wondered what went on behind the scenes, maybe even when he was too little to remember. What kind of sacrifices he’d made between his work and family. He wondered…

“Why did you choose to adopt us?” Prompto asked. He’d never asked before. All he knew was he and his sister were in the hospital because their birth parents were abusive and neglectful, and Dad had taken them home and decided to keep them.

“Well…” 

Prompto stopped to look at him. Dad looked so concerned. So...deep in thought. He felt an icy cold rush in his stomach, much like that time he was in the hospital and had an IV placed in his hand. Was Dad getting ready to lie to him? He wasn’t sure he could handle that. Ami was bad enough, and he never got closure on that one either.

“The powers that be were going to separate you two.” Dad started. “You would have been okay though, I think. But your sister...she was going to be tossed aside. I didn’t like that. I didn’t like the thought of you two being apart like that.” 

That...felt like the truth?

Dad nodded, looking a little choked up. “Everyone tried to tell me I was crazy. I was too young, too irresponsible, and too stupid to raise two kids. But I think I’m doing alright. What do you think?” He asked, messing up Prompto’s hair with his hand.

“I think you’re the best dad ever.” Prompto replied, and that was his truth as well. His dad worked so hard, tried so much to be everything they needed from him. No one could possibly put up with his sister’s more painful problems while still making all the time possible for Prompto’s hobbies quite like _his dad_ could. 

“Yeah, well, takes having some amazing kids to make a great dad.” He gave Prompto a pat on the back before they returned to their walk.

Still. Something felt like it was hanging in the air unsaid. Prompto couldn’t quite put his finger on it. But this other feeling he knew they both had right now, it was so light and warm. He decided to let whatever that uncomfortable thing was hang around away from them for a while. He wanted to let this feeling stay as long as possible.

\---

Cor woke up, with a great amount of frustration, as three fifty three in the morning. He heard the sound of footsteps going down the hallway, making the floorboards creak. Amelia had another nightmare. And she was trying to deal with it the way she always did: watching television until she passed out on the couch.

It wasn’t healthy. And it was a waste of electricity. 

Cor pulled himself from his bed, throwing on a t-shirt before opening the door and walking down the hallway.

“Seriously, was it you?” He heard Amelia say. “Are you a talking dog? I’m willing to accept anything at this point.”

Oh. His daughter was going off the deep end. Great.

Cor decided eavesdropping on his kid’s downward spiral, as enlightening as it might be, was a step too far and decided to make his presence known.

“Ami.” He said, walking around the corner.

The girl screeched for a moment before slapping her hands over her mouth, eyes wide, and collapsing on herself.

“Gods DAMNIT Dad, don’t sneak up on me like that!” She whisper yelled.

He hadn’t thought he’d been that sneaky. Cor couldn’t remember freaking her out that bad since…

_  
Hey kid._

_Fuck! Shit, who the FUCK are you?!_

_...excuse me? Who taught you to talk like that? How old are you?_

_I’m six, how old are YOU?!  
_

“You have another nightmare?” He asked. Dumb question. He hoped she wasn’t in the mood to be a sarcastic brat about it.

“...no.” She said, surprisingly. She huffed. “And since you’re going to ask anyway, I was still thinking about that thing I heard.”

“And you...thought the dog was talking to you?”

“Maybe.”

“But you said Prompto didn’t hear it either.”

“Look I didn’t say it was a rational conclusion!” Amelia threw her arms in the air in exasperation. The puppy in question was settling into her lap. “I was petting the dog when I heard it. It’s just...been bugging me.”

Cor took a seat next to her on the couch. “Well…” He rubbed his eyes. Between a new dog showing up in his home, his son suddenly showing interest in his harrowing adoption story, and his daughter beginning to hallucinate, this had been one hell of a 24 hours. “Why don’t we start with what you heard? Maybe figure it out from there.”

Amelia frowned, folded her arms, and hunched her shoulders up. The telltale body language that said, ‘I am an angry little shit and I am going to lash out now’. But she knew better. They were beyond that these days.

Probably.

“It’s stupid.” She whispered.

“What, is the dog going to tell me you have a new crush? Who is it now? Gladiolus?” He asked, trying to lighten the mood.

...please say no. Please say no. Please say no.

“Ew, Dad! No!”

Cor breathed a sigh of relief. The thought of those two...no. Nope. Not in a million years. That would be a disaster of a very inevitable breakup and he’d end up trying to be there for both of them.

Fuck.

_That._

“It’s...it was...okay but you’re going to think I’m insane.”

“Amelia.” He said, trying to pull his brain back into a serious dadding zone. “After everything we’ve been through, come on.” What could she possibly say at this point? Worse case scenario, they need to see her psych sooner than later.

She blew air out of her mouth, forcing her bangs out of her face, before nodding. “Alright. What I heard was…” She sat more straight, with a serious look on her face. “She seeks forbidden knowledge, though she knows not why. What will she do with what she discovers?” Amelia slumped back down, looking like she might be sick.

“...forbidden knowledge?” Cor asked.

“Yeah.”

“What...what kind of-”

“I don’t know! I don’t fucking know. That’s what I heard!”

Cor frowned, running a hand over his eyes again. “Forbidden knowledge? Have you read that in a book, was it in a movie you watched or…?”

“No! I’ve gone over and over and over everything I can think of. It’s not from a movie. It’s not from a book or a video game or anything. It just...was someone, a woman, talking in my head. And that was it, no more.” She fell back against the couch. “Every time I think it’s over, that I’ve got all the therapy and medication and coping mechanisms and tools and diagnosis that possibly could exist, that there’s nothing else that could happen anymore, something _always_ shows up.”

“I still say it’s coming from stress.” Cor said. And he meant it. She was already a ball of anxiety at her baseline. Now she was worried about graduation, applying to colleges soon, everything that came with applying to medical school, and the looming threat of war with Niflheim that dominated the news cycle every fucking day? No shit she was stressed. “There’s gotta be something Dolores can do for you. You haven’t had a decent night’s sleep in, how long now? What am I paying her for anyway?”

“Dad, it’s...yeah. It’s probably stress. Maybe I’ll try that yoga thing all the other girls are doing. They don’t seem to care about anything.”

Cor knew his kids. He knew, for instance, that when Prompto put his mind to something there was no changing it. And he knew he could trust both of them to do the right thing and watch out for each other. And he knew, one hundred percent, that if Amelia agreed with him without even attempting to argue, she wanted the conversation to end.

Which was suspicious.

But he was exhausted. And so was she, obviously. So for now at least, he’d let both of them rest.

“Try to get some sleep, but let me know if you need a sick day.” He gave her a pat on the shoulder.

She smiled, nodded, and made her way back to her room. The little puppy she’d placed gently on the couch looked up at him, wagging her tail. Cor stroked the dog’s fur for a moment, feeling the exhaustion starting to take back over. He stood from the couch, began to leave, but stopped for a moment to observe the small dog.

“...you can’t talk, right?” He asked. The dog blinked. “ _I_ need more sleep.”

And thank the Gods he was able to get a few more hours, because this was promising to be a very, very long day. 

“The Empire is just letting her travel around then?” Cor asked, putting the photographs of Lunafreya back down on the conference table.

“Yes, Sir.” Flora, an amazing spy and the one who caught those pictures, nodded. “The Imperials seem to care even somewhat about the opinions of the people. Keeping the Oracle from ascending or carrying out her duties would be a step too far. So they’re letting her tend to the ill, specifically places hit hardest by that plague. Under close supervision, of course.”

“Alright.” Cor nodded before turning back to the others at the table. “What’s the plan?”

“Sir?” Dustin straightened in his seat, pushing his glasses up his nose.

Cor looked between the crownsguard and glaive representatives sitting around him. They all seemed not to know what he meant.

“Come on. Seriously? How are we extracting Lunafreya and getting her out of Imperial hands?” 

He was answered with awkward silence.

“Marshal…” Titus finally broke the tension. “His Majesty has already commanded we observe the situation. Nothing more.”

“He believes it’s become too dangerous to send anyone that far out.” Monica added.

Cor clenched his fists, feeling his fingernails dig into his palms. “Does he?” He looked over the scattered photographs on the table. A teenage girl, trapped by the people who murdered her mother, and it was their fault on top of it. And Regis wanted to just let them keep her? This had to be a joke.

“After the last incident at the weapons facility, His Majesty believes it’s too much of a risk to send our people outside of the wall. And I’m afraid I agree, Marshal.” Titus lifted an eyebrow, looking at Cor from the corner of his eye. “We need every capable soldier here. Protecting the royal family and the crystal is our priority.”

Gods. Bringing up that failed expedition was a low blow. The agent was sent out to gather intel on Verstael’s God killing weapon. And while she was at it, Cor asked her to check in on his little cloning program. Maybe even find a way to sabotage it and bring the whole disgusting thing to an end.

She never got that far. She didn’t even make it to Niflheim borders. Somehow, they either knew her route and cut her off at the pass, or she stumbled into the worst coincidence possible. Regardless, she came back with a bullet in her head.

“So, we’re going to watch the Imps parade her around like a bridled chocobo out in the open, and do nothing?” Cor laughed. “We’re letting them keep the Oracle a prisoner?”

“We shouldn’t discount the danger her brother poses-”

“She is healing people as the Oracle is meant to, and with this strange plague spreading-”

“Lunafreya may be a prisoner but she lives in the same level of luxury a Princess can expect-”

The excuses just kept flying. Amazing, Reggie makes a terrible judgement call and the bobbleheads all flock to justify it. Well. He kept Cor around for a reason. And Reggie needed to hear it from him. 

Now.

The moment the meeting adjourned Cor made a straight line to where he knew the King would be.

“Marshal.” The Kingsglaive Captain called to him, stopping his momentum. “A word?”

Cor looked back at Titus with suspicion. The man also had the wherewithal to see when Regis was making a mistake, although he tended to keep his opinions to himself. And Cor didn’t blame him; the situation in Galahd was a nightmare and promising to only get worse. Trying to keep up the Glaive’s morale, while their home was being threatened, was not an easy task for anyone. Cor didn’t envy his colleague.

“What’s the problem, Titus?”

The Captain made a show of checking their surroundings, ensuring they were alone, before continuing. “I think you should be made aware what some above our pay grades have been whispering when you’re not around.”

“Excuse me?” Cor asked. He and Titus were no strangers to gossip. Rumors and insinuations lost all of their bite long ago. What could possibly be so bad?

“Some are saying your...judgement may be compromised.”

Cor felt a nerve behind his eye twitch. _His_ judgement?

“It’s...understandable you’d have a strong reaction, Cor, no one is faulting you-”

“Please, Captain, explain what judgement of mine is being questioned?”

Titus put a hand up. “I’m not the one doubting you, Cor. But you have to admit, the Oracle’s resemblance to Amelia is obvious.”

No.

Not this shit again.

“You think-”

“They think.” Titus quickly corrected. “They think your assessment of the situation is coming from a place of personal bias.”

“What resemblance?! So now anything involving someone who might look a little like one of my kids is a conflict of interest?”

“Cor, they’re the same age, blonde hair,”

“Amelia is a year older-”

“Same height-”

“They look completely different!”

“Cor.” 

“It’s not my problem if they can’t imagine sparing a scrap of empathy for the girl without having some emotional issue hanging over it.” Cor was ready to snap completely. “And even if her being a child and a prisoner wasn’t enough, the fact that we’re willing to leave the Oracle, a strategic asset by any standard, in enemy hands is-”

Titus sighed, putting a hand on Cor’s shoulder. “Marshal. The tides are changing. And I know you can feel it just as well.”

No. No, he couldn’t.

“Something is building just around the corner. None of us can see it, but we all know it’s there all the same. I know it’s coming. _His Majesty_ knows it’s coming. More than ever, we need to keep our emotions in check.”

“I don’t-”

“It’s just some friendly advice, Cor. Take it or leave it.” Titus nodded before parting ways. 

What the hell did _any of that_ mean? Why was everyone acting like nothing was wrong with all of this? Why did no one seem to care that they had all the resources and manpower they could possibly need to get that little girl out of-

_”The Oracle’s resemblance to Amelia is obvious.”_

Cor took a steadying breath. Maybe he was compromised. Maybe he needed to trust Regis, just like he’d been doing for so long. 

He hoped that if Lunafreya and Amelia had anything in common, it was their strength of will. She was going to need it.

Cor spent the rest of the week keeping his head down and his ears open. It was amazing how quickly people would give themselves away. Even worse, how easily these government aides and council members allowed whispers to turn into shameless prattle. 

He did this often when he was younger: Mors sent Cor around to spy for him. Back then, the Citadel residents’ belief that Cor was just some dumb teenager worked in his favor. They said Mors was insane for making a little boy his crownsguard. And thanks to that little boy, Mors knew. And the repercussions were swift and brutal.

Now as an adult, Cor realize he had indeed been a stupid teen. Exceot he was blinded by his loyalty rather than lack of experience.

Still, it was amazing how little things changed even decades later. The same assholes who thought Cor was a nobody worth nothing, the same people who would treat his kids like a problem meant to be pushed aside and out of sight, they were still talking. Accusing him of nepotism, whispering rumors of his daughter being a spy. The words change, the sentiment remains the same. 

The class divide was as present as ever, and woe to the one who works their way up through merit alone. Titus and his merry band of refugees must have had it so much worse. 

He was right, something was building. Something closer than an Imperial army. It had been building for generations. How long before it burst, and burned everyone in its path?

Cor came home at the end of the week to the smell of burnt food and the sound of his son crying.

“What the hell happened?” He asked, walking into the living room. Amelia was usually responsible enough to give him a heads up before coming home to a disaster. Prompto was crying on her shoulder, Daisy sitting dutifully by.

“Chibi’s missing.” Amelia said, looking exhausted.

“What? How?” 

She shrugged her shoulders. “We just got back from searching all over. No trace of her anywhere.”

Cor noticed the bright blue paper on the kitchen table. The dog walker always left a note, her way of saying she’d been there and communicating anything about the pets they might need to know. This note read, ‘So glad you found Chibi’s owner! She’ll be missed! Daisy was certainly rather sad today. :(’ So the dog was already gone by the time she showed up.

Well, it would seem they’d figured out how the dog got lost in the first place. A regular escape artist.

In the kitchen was a tray with what looked like what was supposed to be dinner on it. It was still hot in there, they must have left to look for Chibi after Amelia put dinner in the oven. That was...uncharacteristically irresponsible. 

“She’s so little and she’s all alone out there!” Cor heard Prompto sob.

“She probably just went home, you know? Her paw was all better, and she probably missed her people.”

“But I didn’t get to say goodbye!” 

Cor felt his heart break into a million pieces. Didn’t matter how old these kids got. They were still little to him.

“I’m sorry, buddy.” Cor made his way back to them, grabbing both into a hug. “Ami’s right, she most likely was well enough to make her way back home. Hey, we’ll leave those posters up a little longer. Maybe her owner will call us some time, and you’ll get to see her again.”

Prompto nodded into his sister’s shoulder. “I know.” He said with a sniff. 

Here he was concerning himself with the opinions of faceless nobodies that didn’t matter when his family needed him. That wasn’t going to happen again.

“Well, I can safely assume dinner plans have changed.” Cor smirked, gripping them a little tighter before letting go.

Amelia cringed. “Yeah, sorry. Everything kind of happened so quick.”

“It was my fault!” Prompto yelled, eyes still red and watery. “I ran out looking for Chibi even though Ami told me not to so she had to come too! And I was too stubborn to give it up-”

“Yeah but I willingly helped out even though I knew-”

“Alright alright, everyone quit trying to take the blame, no one is in trouble. Truthfully I’m in the mood for waffles anyway.” Granted he was always in the mood for waffles but that was beside the point. “Come on, get your shoes on and let’s go get some dinner.”

If something terrible really was just around the corner, he wasn’t going to waste a single moment of it getting caught up in useless trivialities like gossip and burnt casseroles. He’d be there for his King, and his kids, and when that something came knocking, he’d be ready.

\----

This was turning out to be the worst two weeks of Prompto’s life. The sudden disappearance of a puppy that was in his care, his sister waking up and walking around at all hours of the night keeping him from getting any decent sleep, and now here he was. Preparing to give a speech about his family. _To_ his family. 

This was so embarrassing. 

He should have known. He should have predicted the teacher would call all the parents. He should have guessed that Ami would skip out on her classes and Dad would take time off to see him. They loved and supported him through everything and it was so great and _so inconvenient_.

He had twenty minutes between noticing them in the audience and his turn to go. He’d wracked his brain as hard as he could trying to figure out some way to change his project into something that wouldn’t be completely mortifying.

He had nothing. And time was up.

Well.

Time to make everyone feel really awkward for ten minutes.

The teacher gave him his cue, and Prompto walked on to the auditorium stage. He remembered the coaching to project his voice, and considered just not doing that. But of course his dad and sister were in the front row. So it didn’t matter anyway.

He cleared his throat. Saw the signal from Audiere that his presentation was loaded on the projector and ready. And took a deep breath.

“For my project, titled Perfect to Me,” Embarrassing. Mortifying. “I used the medium of photography to capture my perspective of two people who are so much more than how they seem.”

Don’t look at them. Find a point in the audience. Find someone else. Prompto found a kindly looking old man five rows back and decided to just focus on him. Just give the speech exactly how he’d memorized it and pretend it was just for this guy. He gave the signal to Audiere to move to the first set of photos.

“This is my sister Amelia.” Who is going to make me eat dirt for embarrassing her like this. “A lot of people think she’s mean, and rude, and doesn’t care about anything.” The photo behind him was taken at a fencing match last year. It was one of Prompto’s favorites. Black and white, her helmet off, looking determined and angry. She’d lost the first bout but won the next two. “But that’s not how I see her.”

Next slide. The photo he took of her with Chibi. “Amelia cares deeply about helping people in and hates seeing anyone suffer. She’s always there to help people who need it. She’s going to college soon to be a doctor.”

Next slide. A selfie he took with her. At the diner, in their usual booth, right after that fancy princess party she had to go to. They were cheek to cheek, her tongue sticking out, two fingers making bunny ears behind his head. 

“She’s goofy, and funny, and is never too busy to hang out with me.”

Last slide for part one. He heard a chorus of “awes” from the audience. He wasn’t sure if this photo counted for the project, but his teacher said it was too cute not to include. It was a very old photo Dad took. Prompto was still a baby. Ami was a little kid, holding him and feeding him with a bottle.

“She’s always been there for me no matter what.” Keeeeep looking at the old guy. “From my point of view she’s the best big sister anyone could ever ask for.”

Deep breath. Old man. Part two.

“This is my Dad.” A very by the book photograph of The Marshal in his fatigues, looking so very grumpy. “The newspapers always describe him as serious, intimidating, and standoffish. But that’s not the real him at all.”

Don’t look at them don’t look at the front row.

Next slide. Dad holding a tray of cookies wearing a decorative Winter Solstice apron.

“I know my Dad better than any journalist ever could. He’s an amazing cook, and even better baker. Every Winter Solstice he makes the same cookies his mom used to make because he knows how much we like them.”

Next slide. Dad play wrestling with Daisy. She was licking his face, he was mid laugh. The composition in this photo was spectacular. “Dad never uses his strength to hurt anyone. He’s gentle and kind and always has the nicest words of encouragement for us.”

Next slide. Almost done! Thank you, old man!

This photo was also an older one that Ami took. He liked the thematic symmetry. It was from his seventh birthday, when they visited a Chocobo ranch. Dad was holding him up so he could pet a chocobo for the first time.

“He makes sacrifices and works so hard to give his kids everything we need, even when it’s just his time. He always makes it work, because he loves us. That’s who he really is.”

Last two slides. Grand finale. Home stretch!

Unlike the other pictures, this one was staged, but the emotion it portrayed was genuine. It was Father’s Day, and Dad usually had to work or insisted they not do anything over the top. But two years ago Prompto and Ami schemed up something simple they pulled together. Just one normal family portrait where they dressed up nice and Ami tempered her sass. They stood together by the tree in the yard, Prompto set the timer on his camera to snap several times in succession and they all smiled. It looked like any normal family portrait.

Then the last slide: the camera had begun to tip over on it’s tripod after Daisy came to investigate the clicking noise. It was a sideways photo of the three of them with panicked expressions, Prompto mid sprint towards the lens. The picture elicited a few laughs from the audience.

“Some people think we’re not a real family, because of the circumstances that brought us together. But I know we’re even more than a normal family. We’re a perfect family. Thank you.” 

Bow, don’t panic, don’t look. Maybe...one quick peek?

In the front row, his sister was bent over, face in her hands resting on her knees. Dad was rubbing her back with an unreadable expression on his face.

Great. They were mortified, exactly like he knew they’d be.

After everyone finished their turn and they were released to go home, Prompto braced himself for at best an awkward ride home and at worst a lecture from his sister on showing off photos of her. Instead what he got was a weepy Ami hugging him so tight his feet actually left the floor momentarily.

“That was so sweet, Prompto, I really thought you were going to talk about chocobos or something!” She wiped at her eyes.

Dad smiled down at him. “You did great, Prom. At least one of us is a decent public speaker.”

He wasn’t sure about _that_.

Prompto spotted that old man he spent the whole speech looking at. He wondered which of his classmates he was there to see. The old man smiled and nodded right at Prompto, before turning and leaving. Alone.

Weird.

\---

“Seriously, when did you take that photo? I don’t remember you taking any pictures back then.” Ami asked Dad as their car came to a stop. 

“Oh yeah, I have a ton of them. They’re nowhere near as nice quality as Prompto’s since they were on an old phone, of course.”

Prompto felt himself blush. The drive home had been filled with stacks of praise for him, and it was starting to get really embarrassing.

“Yeah, I probably would’ve yelled at you if I knew you were doing that. Glad you did anyway.” Ami said gently, making her way to the mailbox.

“I can tell you put a lot of effort into your work.” Dad said, catching up with them. “Keep it up.”

Prompto smiled.

“Uh, dude, do you have a secret girlfriend or something?” Ami asked, waving an envelope around. “This is like reeking of perfume!”

“What? Do you?” Dad asked, frowning.

“No!” Why would any girl send him a letter!?

“You’re too young for girlfriends.” 

“Dad I don’t have a girlfriend!”

“Well it’s addressed to you.” Ami held the envelope out to him. It certainly was. With his name in really nice handwritten ink. The strong aroma of strange flowers practically knocked him off his feet. 

It was overwhelming.

“You read it!” He squealed. He couldn’t take much more embarrassment today.

“Seriously?” She asked.

Prompto nodded.

“Alright.” Ami carefully opened the envelope and unfolded the letter held within. “WOW that is a very strong scent. Wow, okay. Let’s see. ‘Dear Prompto, I hope this letter finds you well. My name is Lunafreya Nox Fleuret- wait, isn’t that-”

“The Oracle?” Dad asked.

“Why is a Princess sending me a letter?!”

“Dude, seriously! ‘I believe you are the one who found my dog, Pryna.’ Oh.”

“Wait, Chibi was _her_ dog?!”

Dad sighed. “That’s a really long ways from home…” 

“I’m losing my mind over here. ‘My heart was heavy with the thought of losing her. But we were happily reunited thanks to you. You have my gratitude. I sent Pryna to see Prince Noctis. He told me all about the fun you have together. I know the two of you have been very close for many years, and I want to thank you for being there for him where I cannot. I hope you can continue to be good friends and remain ever at his side.’ How did she know…”

“Oh! My handkerchief!” Prompto clapped his hands together. “I used it to bandage Chi-Pryna’s leg, remember?”

“The Oracle is sending a dog between Tenebrae and Insomnia to talk to Noctis?” Dad looked incredibly concerned.

“Damn, get that girl a cell phone or something.” Ami handed the letter over to him. “No return address either. Too bad, I bet she’d like having more pen pals being trapped over there and everything.”

“Yeah.” Dad whispered. “I bet she would.”

Prompto held the letter close to himself. It was...the exact affirmation he always hoped for. Princess Lunafreya, the Oracle, was asking Prompto to continue to reach his goals. To stand by Noct and be there for him when no one else could. To step on that little pen bridge and walk over to his side of the paper, so he’d never be alone.

He would do it. He’d be the best crownsguard Lucis had ever seen, and he’d be at Noct’s side always. No matter what.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> @pandalots on twitter


End file.
